Polypodium vulgare on an oak tree alongside the Obbe, Kyleakin.

I have been studying and mapping the distribution of ferns on the Isle of Skye since moving to the Island in 2001 and this site has been set up to give details of references to ferns on the Island and distribution records in my data base.

Although there are currently only distribution records for ferns I intend over the next twelve months to start including clubmosses, quillworts and horsetails and have therefore included a check list of all the pteridophytes that have been recorded on Skye. There is a link from the species name to information (both historical and current) on its distribution including for most species a distribution map. All the distribution maps are now based on a 1 kilometre square and were produced using Dr Alan Morton’s DMAP programme. Synonyms are only included if they have been used in a record for a Skye fern.

Apart from my own personal recordings, records from the following sources are included:

A.B.G. & A.M. Averis in “Vegetation surveys for the John Muir Trust”
H. J. B. Birks in “Past and present vegetation of the Isle of Skye”
Carl Farmer
Tim Godfrey
Dr Norbert Steffen
Dr Stephen Bungard
BSBI Publications (Proceedings of BSBI & Watsonia)
The Fern Gazette
BPS Bulletin

Further Reading:

The following two books are essential reading for anyone studying the Island’s flora, both unfortunately out of print but they should be available through your local library.

Birks, H. J. B. (1973) - Past and present vegetation of the Isle of Skye – a palaeoecological study. Cambridge University Press.

Murray, C. W. and Birks, H. J. B. (1980) - The Botanist in Skye, a Checklist of the Plants of the Islands of Skye and Raasay.  2nd edition. Botanical Society of the British Isles.

Botanical Web sites worth visiting are:

British Pteridological Society - www.ebps.org.uk

Botanical Society of the British Isles - www.bsbi.org.uk

Isle of Skye Flora - www.plant-identification.co.uk/skye

For Biological mapping go to:

DMAP – www.dmap.co.uk

Other Sites with a Skye Interest

Skye Data Atlas - www.bambi.demon.co.uk/skyedata/

John Muir Trust - http://www.jmt.org

Many thanks for visiting my website. If you have any comments or questions or have any records you would like to see added please contact the author using the box below - Mike Taylor.

Site Last Updated: 1st September 2006