Ian Park Photography: 2022

I love saxifrages. Their existence has been known to me since childhood, seemingly before I'd ever knowingly seen one, but I have no idea how - perhaps having always preferred visiting the rock garden section of garden centres. Something about them is particularly fascinating - simple and delicate despite the often hostile environments in which they grow; a dainty little warrior battling away against all odds.

I, quite late on in the year, decided to try and see all the native species we have in Scotland (and the U.K.). Not an insurmountable task as there is only eleven within the Saxifraga genus and only another two to see the whole family, Saxifragaceae. That said it is worth mentioning that two of them which were formerly in Saxifraga are often now classed as Micranthes. Never before having attempted a 'year', initially I thought I was letting myself in for a task a bit too easy. Only with later investigation did I realise this was actually going to take a lot of planning, researching and sleuthing. Later on in the attempt, for continuity purposes, I made myself carry my DSLR on every trip to see them, much to my back's detriment. With a handful of these species being exceedingly rare, I was very keen to only use information that was publicly available and not consult directly with any insiders. By far the most useful website out there is nbnatlas.org, but botanist blogs, posts and newsletters, usually buried by a few pages in Google, proved vital in some areas, as did the images they provided.

Nine of the species could be described as upland, with only four preferring lowland environs; the latter flowering first as they don't require all summer to build up enough energy. That said there is a considerable overlap - a few of them can considerably blur the altitudinal line. Spending a good amount of my time hillwalking, the former did not initially worry me, although their tendency to grow on or at the bases of cliffs did not fill me with confidence. I am very lucky to say that I saw all but one of them, and of the rest only two not in flower (one of which is only seen in flower very infrequently). Of those that I found, I never had to look for longer than about 45 minutes. A few of them (four to be exact) did not actually require any research as they are so common, although for one of them I wish I'd known that at the time! I will go through them in the order that I first saw them, not in the order that the photos were taken.

Starry Saxifrage

Although I saw starry first, it was simply as a rosette high up Stuc a' Chroin's nose in March and far too early to be flowering or even have a stem. It later became the second most abundant saxifrage of the year, present on practically every Munro I climbed. I had seen it a few times before in years prior, without paying it much attention. This photo was taken on Beinn Chabhair.

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage

The most abundant, and first of the only two native saxifrages that are not in Saxifraga, Chrysosplenium. I think most people who spend any decent time outdoors will have seen this flower - it carpets wet ground all over the place, often in shade, and I saw it growing at Munro height in mid-August in Glencoe. This photo was taken nearby to the Glenfarg Tunnels.

Alternate-leaved Golden Saxifrage

The other Chrysosplenium; I saw this by accident while looking for meadow saxifrage. It looks remarkably similar to opposite-leaved. I don't fully know how I'd have looked for it otherwise. To be entirely honest, I am only going off the fact that this individual was not stoloniferous, but much taller and yellower than the surrounding neighbours - I didn't actually check the leaves themselves. I also didn't see anything else closely resembling it all year and have made an unscientific assumption! This photo was taken on the south side of the River Almond.

Meadow Saxifrage

This was the only saxifrage that I did not see flowering, but the cutesy cloud-like leaves were enough for me. It was still very early in the year and I didn't want to have to travel too far to search for them. As a result, this was only a 10-minute drive from my house at the time. I was quite amazed we managed to find it, as I was still wary of the reliability of nbnatlas records, and for how many years a record can be depended upon. This photo was taken on the south side of the River Almond.

Purple Saxifrage

The earliest flowering of the 'upland' saxifrages, I first saw it on Ben Vrackie in mid-April, unsatisfyingly almost at the end of its flowering period. I spotted the one above by accident. The very high altitude of the site allowed for late inflorescence. This photo was taken on Ben Lawers.

Rue-leaved Saxifrage

Although common in England, rue-leaved is quite scarce in Scotland and is most likely to be found by accident. This was the case for us as, after a few hours' fruitless searching, it was spotted by my girlfriend as I walked right over it, after we had given up and moved elsewhere to go fishing! This photo was taken in Knapdale.

Mossy Saxifrage

This was one of the species that I spent a day looking for in the Ochils without need as I saw it all over the place on Munros later on in the year, as well as again in the Ochils! The number and height of the flowers make it quite conspicuous. This photo was taken on Beinn Chabhair.

Yellow Saxifrage

I had only knowingly seen this one once before, at the foot of the Ben Cruachan dam. I later saw it frequently in upland flushes throughout this year and thus didn't require a specific trip. This photo was taken on Beinn a' Chròin.

Alpine Saxifrage

I did very little research into this species as I'd initially been unsure if I was only going to attempt solely the genus or go for the whole family. In the end it was easily joined up en route to another species, spotted as we climbed up. This photo was taken on Ben Lawers.

Drooping Saxifrage

This was the one that required the most research as, along with one other species, the precise co-ordinates are deliberately obfuscated. I was using numerous blogs, the angle of the sun (incorrectly) in a photo taken by an old ecologist of the site, paired with information within a BBC news article published impossibly opportunely to try and triangulate its location. In the end we accidentally wandered straight into the tiny cleft that the common specimens are found in. As well as that I saw it by accident on Bidean nam Bian! This photo was taken on Ben Lawers.

Highland Saxifrage

I included my search for this species in a day of scrambling and Munro-bagging in Glencoe. The way back up from its location ended up being more precarious than the Moderate-graded scramble itself, Dorsal Arête. I only saw a single specimen and it was out with the co-ordinates I was using. This photo was taken on Bidean nam Bian.

Tufted Saxifrage

The last to find, it was clearly past peak inflorescence, I only finding out too late that this species flowers a bit earlier than the rest of its high-altitude siblings. Again I was using co-ordinates and a photo from a blog to pinpoint its exact location, finding only two specimens. It is also arguably the most remote of the saxifrages in Scotland, me deciding to combine it with a two-day wildcamp. This photo was taken on Geal-chàrn.

All in all, I am very content with what I have managed to spot this year, and consider myself very lucky. I excuse myself from the species we did not see (Marsh Saxifrage (S. hirculus)) as not only did we visit the site where its presence is least dependable, but whose co-ordinates are also deliberately obfuscated. We did in fact easily find both exclosures in which it can usually be seen as well as miraculously finding the area where it is seen out with them. In our case it seems it had sadly been munched by the sheep by this point in the year, although the chance that we unknowingly did in fact see the leaves is not entirely impossible.

It is an interesting balance many of these saxifrages have, as having no grazing present would cause them to be outcompeted by taller species in rank vegetation, whereas too much grazing naturally results in their ingestion. It is theorised that some of these upland saxifrages may be lost to climate change within the next few decades, as the required cool conditions necessary for their survival, provided by late snow-melt, gradually move uphill to a point where there's no more hill left to colonise up. Most of this family's pressures are from human trampling and browsing by ungulates, both of which could quite easily be more effectively managed.

My favourite day seeing them has to have been for the rue-leaved in May as it was found in a place and with a person close to my heart. In the future I'd like to see marsh saxifrage and meadow saxifrage flowering (the latter of which I could have probably done without too much effort), but for now I am content with appreciating these wholesome little flowers from others' photos and reports of their status. Long may they battle away against the odds!