Research Report No. 916 Third cycle Site Condition Monitoring report for bryological interest – Craig Leek SSSI RESEARCH REPORT Research Report No. 916 Third cycle Site Condition Monitoring report for bryological interest – Craig Leek SSSI For further information on this report please contact: Bob Bryson NatureScot Silvan House 231 Corstorphine Road EDINBURGH EH12 7AT Telephone: 0131 3162677 E-mail: [email protected] This report should be quoted as: Callaghan, D.A. 2020. Third cycle Site Condition Monitoring report for bryological interest – Craig Leek SSSI. NatureScot Research Report No. 916. This report, or any part of it, should not be reproduced without the permission of NatureScot. This permission will not be withheld unreasonably. The views expressed by the author(s) of this report should not be taken as the views and policies of NatureScot. © NatureScot 2020. SCM Reports This report was commissioned by NatureScot as part of the Site Condition Monitoring (SCM) programme to assess the condition of special features (habitats, species populations or earth science interests) on protected areas in Scotland (Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas and Ramsar). SCM is our rolling programme to monitor the condition of special features on protected areas, their management and wider environmental factors which contribute to their condition. The views expressed in the report are those of the contractor concerned and have been used by NatureScot staff to inform the condition assessment for the individual special features. Where the report recommends a particular condition for an individual feature, this is taken into account in the assessment process, but may not be the final condition assessment of the feature. Wider factors, which would not necessarily be known to the contractor at the time of the monitoring, are taken into consideration by our staff in making final condition assessments. RESEARCH REPORT Summary Third cycle Site Condition Monitoring report for bryological interest – Craig Leek SSSI Research Report No. 916 Project No: 113952 Contractor: Des Callaghan Year of publication: 2020 Keywords Craig Leek, bryophytes, monitoring, Tortula leucostoma, Athalamia hyaline Background This report provides a third assessment of the condition of the bryophyte interest of Craig Leek SSSI. A thorough introduction to the bryophyte interest of the site is provided by the previous two assessments (Rothero 1999, 2009), plus an additional survey (Rothero, 2006). Main findings Craig Leek continues to be a very rich site for bryophytes, with 166 species found during the present survey. Additions to the site list include eight Nationally Scarce (Amphidium lapponicum, Bryum elegans, Encalypta ciliata, Jungermannia borealis, Racomitrium canescens, Schistidium robustum, Schistidium trichodon and Tortella bambergeri) and three Nationally Rare (Dicranella grevilleana, Eurhynchiastrum pulchellum and Schistidium papillosum). Other notable species no doubt await discovery. The two most important species at Craig Leek are Tortula leucostoma and Athalamia hyalina. The former was again not found and the population of the latter has undergone a significant decline in the monitoring plots. Open soil, especially thin soil over limestone exposures, is a key niche for many of the species of conservation importance, including Tortula leucostoma and Athalamia hyalina. Photographs of monitoring plots clearly indicate that this habitat continues to decline across the site as a result of vegetation succession. Available evidence strongly suggests that the cause is under grazing. The site condition is again judged to be ‘Unfavourable – Declining’. For further information on this project contact: Bob Bryson, NatureScot, Silvan House, 231 Corstorphine Road, Edinburgh, EH12 7AT. Tel: 0131 3162677 or [email protected] For further information on our research programme contact: Research Coordinator, NatureScot, Great Glen House, Leachkin Road, Inverness, IV3 8NW. Tel: 01463 725000 or [email protected] i Table of Contents Page 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. METHODS 1 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3 3.1 Species inventory 3 3.2 Monitoring plots 6 3.3 Additional photographic locations 33 3.4 Site attributes and targets 35 3.5 Pressures 39 3.6 Condition assessment 40 3.7 Management notes 40 3.8 Site check recommendations 40 4. REFERENCES 41 ANNEX 1: SPECIES INVENTORY 42 ANNEX 2: GPS LOCATIONS OF NOTABLE SPECIES 45 ii Acknowledgements Many thanks to the landowners for allowing access and to SNH staff for help and support. iii 1. INTRODUCTION This report provides a third assessment of the condition of the bryophyte interest of Craig Leek SSSI. A thorough introduction to the bryophyte interest of the site is provided by the previous two assessments (Rothero 1999, 2009), plus an additional survey (Rothero, 2006). Taxonomy follows Hill et al. (2008) and the inclusion of species within the following lists and categories is noted as appropriate: (i) Annex II of the Habitats Directive; (ii) priority species under the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006; (iii) Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended); (iv) UK Red List (Hodgetts, 2011); (v) Nationally Rare (Preston, 2010); (vi) Nationally Scarce (Preston, 2006); (vii) Atlantic, Sub- Atlantic and Western British (Ratcliffe, 1968); and (viii) Hyper-oceanic and Oceanic (Hill and Preston, 1998). 2. METHODS Field surveying was undertaken over three days (20-22 May 2015), following the routes shown in Figure 2.1. All monitoring plots established by Rothero (2006) were revisited and their current condition was assessed, including the collection of photographs. A list of the species seen within the site was also compiled. Weather conditions were good throughout. 1 Figure 2.1. Location of monitoring plots and survey route. Based upon Ordnance Survey material with the permission of the Controller of HMSO © Crown copyright (2016) Licence no. 100017908. 2 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Species inventory A total of 166 species were found (Annex 1), of which 22 were either Nationally Rare or Nationally Scarce (Table 1). GPS locations collected for some of the more notable species are provided in Annex 2. All species records will be submitted to the national recording database of the British Bryological Society (BBS), managed by BRC Wallingford, and will be subsequently uploaded to the NBN Gateway. Table 1. Nationally rare and scarce bryophytes recorded during the present fieldwork. Species UK UK National Craig Leek status hectads1 Red status List Amphidium lapponicum 46 Nationally Noted at one location scarce Anomobryum 56 Nationally Frequent on thin soil over limestone concinnatum scarce Bryum elegans 28 Nationally Frequent on thin soil over limestone scarce Clevea hyalina 2 VU Nationally rare See main text Dicranella grevilleana 8 VU Nationally rare Noted at one location, beside calcareous flush Ditrichum flexicaule 66 Nationally Frequent on thin soil over limestone scarce Encalypta ciliata 50 Nationally Noted at one location, on thin soil over scarce limestone Eurhynchiastrum 5 EN Nationally rare Noted at one location, on thin soil over pulchellum limestone Grimmia montana 20 Nationally Occasional on insolated, acidic rocks scarce Jungermannia borealis 23 Nationally Noted at two locations, on thin soil over scarce limestone Lophozia longidens 57 Nationally Seemingly frequent on the bases of birch scarce trees in the western side of the site Pseudoleskeella 22 Nationally Rare on limestone catenulata scarce Pterigynandrum 79 Nationally Scarce on limestone and trees filiforme scarce Pterygoneurum ovatum 25 Nationally Noted at one location, on thin soil over scarce limestone Racomitrium 43 Nationally Scarce on limestone outcrops canescens scarce Scapania 12 NT Nationally rare Noted at two locations, on thin soil over gymnostomophila limestone Schistidium papillosum 21 NT Nationally rare Occasional on limestone Schistidium robustum 44 Nationally Frequent on limestone scarce 3 Schistidium trichodon 22 Nationally Noted at one location scarce Seligeria pusilla 69 Nationally Noted at three locations on shaded scarce limestone Stegonia latifolia 9 NT Nationally rare Occasional on thin soil over limestone Tortella bambergeri 72 Nationally Frequent on tops of limestone boulders scarce 1Number of UK hectads with records during 1990-2014. A number of new species were added to the site list, including eight Nationally Scarce (Amphidium lapponicum, Bryum elegans, Encalypta ciliata, Jungermannia borealis, Racomitrium canescens, Schistidium robustum, Schistidium trichodon and Tortella bambergeri) and three Nationally Rare (Dicranella grevilleana, Eurhynchiastrum pulchellum and Schistidium papillosum). The most notable addition is Eurhynchiastrum pulchellum, a very rare plant in Britain recorded in only five hectads during 1990-2014, all in Scotland and with a concentration on Skye (Blockeel et al., 2014). The distribution of OS 10 m grid cells found to be occupied by Athalamia hyalina (n=16) is shown in the following figure. 4 Figure 3.1. Distribution of OS 10 m grid cells occupied by Athalamia hyalina in 2015. 5 3.2 Monitoring plots 3.2.1 Plot T1 Grid reference: NO18867.92849 Species: Tortula leucostoma 2005: Two areas with scattered stems (seven stems and nine stems). 2009: Not refound. 2015: Figure 3.2. Not refound. Vegetation structure significantly different to October 2005, with grassier field layer and greater birch scrub. Rock falls have also altered the