I started this series with a walk along the Kilmichael Road in early spring from Glechnabae onwards (Walk 1).  It’s a lovely walk at any time of year, so I’m including it again as a September walk, but this time looking at the section from Ettrick Bay to Glechnabae, about two and a half miles along a level, tarmac road.  There’s a bus service (except in winter) to the start at the Ettrick Bay Tearoom (GR NS036665).

Enjoy the first mile or so as much for the scenery as for its botanical interest.  On the seaward side there are still a few blue Meadow Crane’s-bill in flower, a plant that is abundant in the Ettrick Bay area but rarely found elsewhere on the island. 

Amphibious Bistort

In the ditch that runs along the righthand side for part of this stretch the strangely-named Amphibious Bistort is in flower (the name reflects the fact that there are two forms of this plant – one version floats on water and the other, as here, is land-based and upright.

After a series of bends, you come to a long straight section beside the Scarrel shore.  Thereafter, the road has woodland on both sides until the final stretch leading to Glechnabae.  Much of the botanical interest lies in the ditch that lines the righthand side of the road.

 It can be satisfying to be able to identify a plant in generic terms as, say, a Mint or a St John’s-wort;  but the next step is to go beyond this, to look at more details and so to identify the particular species.  The Kilmichael Road in September affords a good opportunity to do this for several related pairs of species.  Let’s start with the mints.

Spear Mint

Water Mint

The different shape of the flowerhead makes it easy to distinguish between Spearmint and Water Mint.  If you look at your ID book, you will see that there are a number of other Mint species and hybrids, but these are the main two to be seen here on the island.

Square-stalked St John's-wort

Slender St John's-wort

You need to look rather more closely to distinguish between Square-stalked St John’s-wort and Slender St John’s-wort, though of course there is a clue in the name!  Both species have translucent dots on their leaves (hold a leaf up to the light) but the Slender species has black dots on the edge of the petals and sepals, unlike the Square-stalked (use a 10x lens).  Again, there are other St John’s-wort species to be seen on the island but a good ID book will help you with the features to look for.

Other pairs of related species that can be seen on this walk are Marsh and Hedge Woundwort (see also Walk 27), Meadow and Creeping Buttercup (see also Walk 23), and Creeping and Marsh Thistle.

Species in flower: