Unlock the outdoors Cairngorms wild plants keys Mountains An outdoor learning resource for group leaders KEYS to Cairngorms mountains Key The language of the Cairngorms 1 Gaelic and Scots words for plants and places Key Lines on the landscape 2 Poems and prose to inspire us Key The shaping of our mountains 3 Cairngorms geology and erosion Key Natural treelines 4 In search of ‘krummholz’ Key Patterns in the heather moors 5 Red grouse and the landscape of muirburn Key Blanket bogs 6 Sphagnum mosses and peat hags Key A splash of spring green 7 Spring lines and flushes Key Life in the snow and ice 8 Explore the arctic alpine world of Scotland Key What’s that plant? 9 Spotter guides with handy plant ID tips Cairngorms mountains keys | Contents Unlocking Cairngorms mountains How to use the KEYS Each KEY includes an ‘Idea’ and short ‘Activity’, with a ‘Discussion’ The KEYS explore different section to take things further. You aspects of Cairngorms mountain don’t need to know the answers to habitats and wildlife and are a the questions, they are prompts to learning resource for leaders. stimulate thought and discussion. Whether hill walking, climbing Have fun with them. Choose KEYS or wildlife watching, there will to suit your group. Fit the KEYS into be something in the KEYS for short stops or lunch breaks with you to help enrich your group’s your group. Or take more time and experience of this amazing habitat. unlock more of the Cairngorms. ©Gwenda Diack Cairngorms mountains keys | Introduction Cairngorms mountains Important Plant Areas are the fascinating flora which is one most important places in the of the reasons why Plantlife world for wild plant and fungal identified the Cairngorms as diversity that can be protected an Important Plant Area (IPA). and managed as specific sites. Through these KEYS, we The Cairngorms mountain want to raise awareness range has one of the few of the valuable mountain truly arctic alpine habitats habitats and encourage their in the UK. Because of this, long-term conservation. the mountains boast some Map of Cairngorms National Park mountains Ground >600m Boundary Grantown-on-Spey Tomintoul Aviemore Newtonmore Braemar Ballater Blair Atholl Cairngorms mountains keys | Introduction The language Key of the Cairngorms 1 Key idea Natural landscapes, and the plants and animals within them, have had a significant impact on Scotland’s cultural heritage. There are many Gaelic and Scots words for them. Place names can tell us a Coire lot about the history and landscape features. There are also some ©Gwenda Diack wonderfully evocative Gaelic and Scots names for plants which describe them or their uses. Abhainn Understanding the meaning of these Gaelic and Scots words Mullach Ach/Auch MealCarden helps us to read the Bad Cruach cultural history of Carden the Cairngorms. Stob Allt Fearna Cuilc Craobh Giubhas Bog(l)ach Beag/bheag CraobhachCarn Creag Badan Mhor/Mor Clach Linne ruadh Cnoc Dearg/ruadh Gorm Cluan Sgurr Coille/Doille Sgor Dubh Sgorr Ban Moine Creag Dearg Reaneach aichean Geall Key Lairig The language of Cuilc the Cairngorms 1 Fearna Craobh Giubhas Beag/bheag CraobhachCarn Badan Creag Mhor/Mor Linne ruadh Gorm KEY ActivityCoille/Doille Stop at a place that has a Gaelic or Scots name. Maps show many Gaelic and Scots words, with various spellings. If you Moine Creag Dearg have one, spread out your OS map. Discussion Use Table 1 and call out some other How much of the map shows Gaelic aichean Gaelic/Scots placeReaneach names Gealland ask names for landscape features? Cuilcyour group to find examples. What changes have there been in Go through the English definitions. Lairig the Gaelic cultural landscape through time? Table 1 – a selection of Gaelic and Scots words for landscape features Abhainn – river Cruach – stack Ach/Auch – field Cuilc – reed Allt – stream, burn Dearg/ruadh – red Bad – thicket or clump, Badan (small clump) Dubh – dark, black Ban – white Fearna – alder Beag/bheag – small Geall – white Bog(l)ach, aich, aichean – bog Giubhas – fir Carden – thicket Gorm – blue Carn – cairn, heap of stones Lairig – a low traveller’s pass Clach – rock or stone Linne – pool, pond Cluan – meadow Meal – round lumpy hill, meaning bald head Cnoc – small rounded hillock Mhor/Mor – big Coille/Doille – wood or forest Moine – blanket bog Coire – corrie Mullach – summit Craobh – tree Reaneach – bracken Craobhach – full of trees Sgurr/Sgor/Sgorr – jagged peak Creag – crag Stob – small top, point or peak Key The language of 1 the Cairngorms Key KEY Activity – Plant names 1 Latin/scientific names are useful for identification; however, there is a rich heritage of common names that can tell us about some plants’ shapes, colours, smells, uses and customs. Find some of the plants and trees pictured here. Share the different names and uses/meanings. Do they have their own examples of common names for wild plants? ©Deborah Long Gorse/Whin (Scots); Conasg ©Deborah Long (Gaelic, meaning quarrel or Heather/Ling/Freuchie (Scots); Fraoch wrangle – no doubt the thorns (Gaelic). Purple heather is strongly making people bad tempered!). associated with Scotland, but white heather was considered lucky, meaning ‘wishes come true’. ©Deborah Long Bilberry/Blaeberry (Scots); Caoramhitheag (Gaelic which means ‘blue berries’, our deliciously ©Lorne Gill/SNH edible native blueberry). Bog cotton/Cottongrass/Canach (Scots)/Caineachan (Gaelic) – the fluffy seed heads were spun into cloth shirts to cast off bewitchment. The language of Key the Cairngorms 1 Discussion Are common names of wild plants still common knowledge? Do they know of any customs associated with wild plants that are still practised today? ©Dcrjsr 4.0 CC BY Bird’s-foot trefoil/Craw’s Taes (Scots), refers to the claw-like seed pods. An English common name ‘bacon Lindsey ©James and eggs’ refers to the yellow and orange flowers. Mat grass/Deil’s hair (Scots for ‘devil’s hair’, which refers to its short spiky stems in tufty clumps). ©Polly Phillpot Rowan/Mountain ash/Chaoruin/ Caorann (Gaelic). This tree was Elliott/SNH©Anne planted around Scottish homes to ward off evil spirits. Birch/Craobh/Beith (Gaelic); Birk (Scots). Birch brooms were used as bridal staffs in Scotland. Key The language of 1 the Cairngorms Key Lines on the landscape 2 KEY Idea Poets and writers have long used the landscape as inspiration for their writing, expressing their emotional connections with wild places and the plants and animals that live there. Taking a moment to absorb the beauty of our surroundings and share our KEY Activity experience can deepen our appreciation Stop at a scenic spot on the of the natural world and help connect us mountain. Ask the group to to nature and others. describe how it feels. What descriptive words can they come up with? Share some of the lines of poems and prose from Nan Shepherd and Norman MacCaig (over the page). How do these authors relate to the landscapes? ©Gwenda Diack Discussion What places do they find magical and why? How does society value and connect with wild places today? How does nature enhance our wellbeing, creativity and sense of place? Lines on Key the landscape 2 “The plants of the plateau are low in stature, sitting tight to the ground with no loose ends for the wind to catch. They creep, either along the surface, or under it, or they anchor themselves by a heavy root massive out of all proportion to their external growth. I have said that they have no shelter, but for the individual flower there is the shelter of its group. Thus the moss campion, Silene, the most startling of all the plateau flowers that in June and early July amazes the eye by its cushions of brilliant pink scattered in the barest and most stony places, has a habit of growth as close set as a Victorian posy. Its root too is strong and deep anchoring it against the hurricane, and keeping its vital essence safe against frost and fiery drought, the extremes and unpredictable shift of weather on the exposed plateau. In these ways this most characteristic of the plateau flowers is seen to be quite simply a part of the mountain. Its way of life lies in the mountain’s way of life as water lies in a channel.” Nan Shepherd excerpt from The Living Mountain ©Lorne Gill/SNH (Canongate Books Ltd 2011) Key Lines on 2 the landscape Key “Except in grooves of streams, armpits of hills, 2 Here’s a bald, bare land, weathered half away. It pokes its bony blades clean through its skin And chucks the light up from grey knucklebones, Tattering the eye, that’s teased with flowers and stones.” Norman MacCaig excerpt from the poem ‘Treeless Landscape’, from The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Ltd 2005) ©Anne Elliott Lines on Key the landscape 2 “Scotland small? Our multiform, our infinite Scotland small? Only as a patch of hillside may be a cliché corner To a fool who cries ‘Nothing but heather!’ where in September another Sitting there and resting and gazing around Sees not only the heather but blaeberries With bright green leaves and leaves already turned scarlet, Hiding ripe blue berries; and amongst the sage-green leaves Of the bog-myrtle the golden flowers of the tormentil shining; And on the small bare places, where the little Blackface sheep Found grazing, milkworts blue as summer skies; And down in neglected peat-hags, not worked Within living memory, sphagnum moss in pastel shades Of yellow, green, and pink; sundew and butterwort Waiting with wide-open sticky leaves for their tiny winged prey; And nodding harebells vying in their colour With the blue butterflies that poise themselves delicately upon them; And stunted rowans with harsh dry leaves of glorious colour.