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u3a Botany Group - Finstown - 26 May 2026
by Rosey Whittles - 16:43 on 02 June 2026
It was a chilly wind but remained dry for our time out and about exploring and delving into the foliage from sea level up to hilltops on the outskirts of Finstown last Tuesday .
A gallant band of seven of us met up for our first outing of the year. We started off on lower land beside the sea - inside the lay-by off the A965 towards the Finstown end. This used to be the old road and is now a cul de sac. It is a lovely hidden area containing Davie’s Brig over a burn where water tumbles down from the hill, there is marshy land over a stone dyke & a grassy meadow with native willows cutting it off from the sight & sound of the road and the sea.
I had chosen this site as a good start because of the profusion of cowslips found here, which is rather unusual outside possibly an Orkney garden. On return from our excursion I received a message from Jenny T, who was unable to attend, reminding us to look out for “false oxslips “ which threw me into some confusion as we all had assumed they were Cowslips. John C., also absent last Tuesday, has since visited the site and compared these plants to ones in Aikerness. He says,
"The Brig ones are definitely Cowslips, not Oxslips. They are bigger and the leaves more densely hairy beneath than the Aikerness plants, also flowering slightly earlier, indicating that they are not Orkney natives, which we knew already because the seed used was imported. I don't think they are a different subspecies but they are slightly different. But certainly not Oxslips (nor False Oxlsips, a hybrid between Primrose and Cowslip, which is what Jenny may have been referring to)."
*For those interested further, I will add an appendix at the end of this Botanical report!
Oxslips are pale primrose colour and the flowers hang to one side. They are taller 10-15 cm as compared with 5-10 cm, they also apparently have a peach scent in hot sun. Not something we experienced on Tuesday! Whereas the actual cowslip is shorter, has a more pale promrose colour, the lobes have orange streaks.
Cowslip
We also found in this area:
Lady’s smock
Marsh marigold
Pig nut
Birdsfoot Trefoil
Ribwort Plantain
Daisy
Water Avens
Chickweed
Meadow buttercup
Meadow vetchling
Primrose - sparser than on the hill
Springyturf moss
Sticky mouse-ear
We identified grasses
Meadow Foxtail, Timothy and Cocksfoot too in the meadow:
Pignut
Sticky mouse-ear
Orchid sp Northern Marsh?
We then reconvened to the community centre carpark.
Behind the hall we followed the path up the hill. This is now part of the St Magnus Way.
On the hill we found:-
Primrose in profusion, cascading down through the fields.
Also:
Dog Violet
Tormentil
Lousewort
Common cotton grass
Groundsel
more Water Aven
Mountain everlasting
Bluebell - hybrid cross between native & Spanish Ribwort plantain
Pearlwort
Birds foot trefoil
Cuckoo flower or Lady’s smock
Water Avens
Lousewort
My mountain everlasting photo was alas out of focus but Julie in the group shared with us her excellent close up of the same - but taken at Yesnaby - just a day or so previous so I include it!
Mountain everlasting
Antennaria Dioica, pussytoes or catsfoot.
Amongst the plants not yet in flower we identified
Meadowsweet
Hogweed
Angelica
Common sorrel
Silverweed
Lady’s mantle
Ragwort
Rosebay willowherb
Thrift
Sphagnum moss
Red stemmed feather moss
The Heather on the hill was mostly dry and dead with pockets of new life springing up in the shelter of the banks along the side of the path.
Fresh growth
Fork moss
We concluded our time together in the hall with an opportunity to compare notes over a cuppa before disbanding
This was altogether a delightful start to our U3A Botany season of visits.
Looking forward to seeing more of you next time on June 9th at Kirbister Loch when Ian will be leading us.
Rosey Whittles
*Looking into reason behind the introduction of cowslips to the brig area. Walliwall Quarry used to be the main quarry for Orkney but when it had been in operation for a number of years and well dug down they had to spend a lot of time pumping out the water. So Cursiter Quarry was opened up in 1969-70 to replace Walliwall Quarry on outskirts of Kirkwall by the Orkney County Council, as it was then. In this new quarry they needed to remove a large amount of shale rubble to get down to rock, so they filled in the bay below the quarry near the main road with some of the rock for base and lose stone and built a new piece of straight road on the filled in land - thus cutting out the bridge and a bend in the road leaving this land to be used as a lay-by. Tom Eggling who was the Director of Planning in the council took it on himself to create a wild flower area on this land next to the new road at this time. To his credit and being interested in flora and fauna himself, he saw that this was managed properly.
Thanks to Andy Alsop’s and John C’s for this information .
Cowslips here already going to seed.
Early flowering an indication that they are not Orkney natives.
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