Gus Routledge

Forests, hills, bogs, boreo-temperate-oceanic stuff & everything in them (incl people). Ecologist. Tweets definitely my own.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

In case you missed it, @MossyEarth posted the first video about the #MountainBirchProject just over a week ago, where I take Rob out into the hills to do some seed collection & introduce this project that they're funding & I'm leading for @ReforestingScot. https://t.co/jKnY5BXMUi

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Lepidozia cupressina was a nice find right by the path on a wee walk at Falls of Foyers, only the second record from around Loch Ness, the first being in 1961 by the notorious D. Ratcliffe.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Seems this pic I took of myself & Cuilean stood by a patch of mossy stonecrop (Crassula tillaea) at Opinan back in mid September is only the second Wester Ross record of this species. As per usual, growing in a car park.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Found a new site for Canadian fleabane (Erigeron canadensis) whilst going to get my car washed in Inverness a couple days ago, second Invernesian record of this adventive.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@Watts_SH Woah whaaaaat?! Can't even think where that would be! Got a couple guesses...

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@Watts_SH @UK_CEH @StirUni @Forest_Research @IapetusDTP @TheBotanics @N_T_S @MarLodgeNTS @scavers_at_wk @AlistairJump @thomasgeorgesim So so exciting!

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Looking for a research project? Keen on trees & the montane environment? Here's an exciting PhD project on "mountain birch" (first job surely will be defining what that even is!) in Scotland!

[Sarah Watts @Watts_SH]

We're recruiting for an exciting new #PhD project in #mountain #woodland restoration! "The genetic diversity & adaptive potential of mountain birch in Scotland for high-altitude nature recovery" hosted by
@UK_CEH, @StirUni & @Forest_Research
Apply here: https://t.co/EkL7yNXlR4

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@BSBIScotland @Watts_SH @BBSbryology Was indeed! Sarah’s now got better details than I have as I’ve deleted my QField project 😅

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Had to wait a bit to post this until both were confirmed, but my other 2 finds from this particular job that I was gey chuffed with were Sphagnum majus & S. affine, neither of which I’d seen before so it was great to pick them out! #Corrour

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Of course, being on peatlands I’ve always got an eye out for nice Sphagna so I was delighted to find quite a decent population of Sphagnum pulchrum! One of our most stunning Sphagnum mosses & an indicator of a reasonably good bit of bog but can cling on in suboptimal conditions.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@BSBIScotland @Watts_SH @BBSbryology Scheuchzeria in the same pool! Or at least one of them anyway, 3 pools for majus, colleague found a 4th.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Attended a great wee workshop last week organised by @PlantlifeScot at @NatureScot Muir of Dinnet NNR looking at the nationally rare aspen bristle-moss (Nyholmiella gymnostoma), also seeing the endangered Nyholmiella obtusifolia & nationally scarce Lewinskya speciosa.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@_JamieMcIntyre Yeah the beech in there is pretty bad really. If that orange blur was green Rhododendron then it’d be wiped out of there. Maybe should’ve lumped it with the Sitka, hemlock & Doug-fir!

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Pretty galling seeing Rhododendron ponticum invading this strip of pedunculate oak woodland at the north end of Loch Ness. Also been historically underplanted with beech, pine & larch (not too bad) & more recently invaded by Sitka spruce, Doug-fir & western hemlock (pretty bad).

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

Head-in-the-sand response to this issue seems to be pretty common. Fortunately there are many trying to work on the issue itself.

[Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @IrishRainforest]

The sheer madness of it: virtually nothing can grow in Killarney NP because of invasive sika and goats.

But instead of tackling the core problem, allowing the WHOLE ecosystem to thrive, the npws does what? Plants a few trees in guards.

Like, just *who* is deciding this stuff??

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@Matt_J_ecology Whaaaaaaaat?! Swear I've seen this somewhere but passed it off as a small, emerging individual of a generally larger species, can't remember where it was. Will know to keep an eye out from now on I guess!

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@bardseyben Really, really bad round here but they’re pretty bad in quite a few places, like round Ceeag Meagaidh & up around central/southeast Sutherland.

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

So many Sika deer (Cervus nippon) around locally. Heaps of them. Can really see the trampling impact they're having on this local lochan (which I suspect is a kettle hole). A few nice Sphagna to be found still but the coralroot orchid still evades me... Must be there...

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@croftingmannie Ah, aye that seems a bit short-sighted & plays into the hands of the larger landowner, as these things often do 🙄 I could get the dog to try herd a few more on to your croft?

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@croftingmannie Whaaaaat?! Need to get my DSC2 😂

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@croftingmannie Hadn't even heard of it! There's definitely also plenty reds about to shoot too so I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to significantly reduce the Sika population. Who's heading up the scheme you mention?

[Gus Routledge @PinkfootedGus]

@davepullan Will you report it? I think this is the best place to do so… https://t.co/tJhXer0v7p