Eastern Scotland
Fri 20 - Sun 22 June 2025
08.00
Lyn Jones
This three-day meeting covers a range of sites in Fife and Angus and can be booked as a whole, or as separate days. During the first two days we will explore…
Aviemore and Grantown-on-Spey
Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th June: Aviemore and Grantown-on-Spey
Leader: Audrey Turner
Details of meeting times and places will be provided later.
Tuesday 24th June: Aviemore
The first place we visit will be Craigellachie NNR just across the A9 from Aviemore. Some of the special plants there are Water Lobelia Lobelia dortmanna and Least Water-lily Nuphar pumila, but here are also Northern Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella, Heath Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza maculata, maybe Lesser Twayblade Neottia cordata, if we’re lucky, and Globeflower Trollius europaeus. Craigellachie is a NatureScot reserve and you can find out more on their website, https://www.nature.scot/enjoying-outdoors/visit-our-nature-reserves/craigellachie-nnr/craigellachie-nnr-about-reserve If you scroll down to near the bottom of that page there’s a map, and just below that is a link to a leaflet with a bit more information including brief descriptions of the 4 trails in the reserve. We will do the Buzzard trail. At only a mile it doesn’t seem that long but there are steeper bits which we’ll take at botanists’ pace. The description says to allow ¾ of an hour, but in the past the Inverness Botany Group has taken 3 to 4 hours with a lunch or coffee stop.
In the afternoon we will move on to Whitewell. It is about 3 or 4 miles from Craigellachie towards the Cairngorms and has Heath Fragrant-orchid Gymnadenia borealis, Heath Spotted-orchid Dactylorhiza maculata and Small White-orchid Pseudorchis albida, with a possibility of Lesser Twayblade Neottia cordata. It is quite a flat site, although you do get nice views across to the Cairngorms and it’s at the end of a public road, so feels like you’re out in the countryside. There’s also a site quite near there, back on the main road, which has Yellow Bird’s-nest Hypopitys monotropa, growing on the grass verge near a layby.
Wednesday 25th June: Grantown-on-Spey
For Grantown-on-Spey there’s a nice circular walk, about 5km partly along a disused railway line, with Goldilocks Buttercup Ranunculus auricomus and Bird’s-nest Orchid Neottia nidus-avis. Off the railway line, there is a site for One-flowered Wintergreen Moneses uniflora which may also have Twinflower Linnaea borealis (the favourite flower of the great Swedish botanist, Linnaeus) and Lesser Twayblade Neottia cordata. That would probably be a full day walk at botanists’ pace, but we could also have a look down at the River Spey if there was time/enthusiasm afterwards.
To book, contact Janet John wfs.meetings@gmail.com
Important information about Two Day Meeting
- Field meetings are open to all members of the Society. Guests may also attend meetings. Children are welcome but remain the responsibility of parents/guardians at all times.
- Leaders have received updated procedures and recommendations to ensure the safety of members on meetings with regard to Covid-19. These include maintaining social distancing and perhaps limiting numbers at a meeting depending on terrain.
- To receive monthly updates with details about availability of places or changes to arrangements in meetings and information about extra meetings, sign up for the WFS Alerts system.
- Please DO NOT bring dogs as many field meetings are held in nature reserves or where there are grazing animals. Registered guide dogs may be exempt from this requirement, unless they are prohibited by the landowners. Please check with the meeting organiser.
- Transport and accommodation is the responsibility of the attendee. However, members who do not drive or who have difficulty in reaching the starting point should contact the leader, whose details you will be given when you book, to see if transport might be available.
- Please arrive promptly for the meeting. If you have traffic problems let the leader know so they can advise on the route and how you can find the group.
- When you arrive at the meeting, park considerately, act responsibly, bearing in mind the Countryside Code, and stay with the group. Always inform the leader if you must leave before the end of a meeting.
- Packed lunches are usually required and need to be carried.
- All those attending Wild Flower Society field meetings do so at their own risk.