Given my home parch is devoid of mistletoe, I make a point of looking out for it when visiting family in Hertfordshire. These ones were on some sort of maple, which was a bit unexpected.

Simon Milne, RBGE Regius Keeper, receiving one of two pre-retirement gifts from Matt Harding, BSBI Scotland Officer, in acknowledgement of his support for BSBI and the wider botanical community in Scotland. This gift? A data stick containing e-copies of each of the BSBI handbooks!

Matt Harding (BSBI) and Pete Hollingsworth (RBGE) bringing yesterday's Scottish Botanists's Conference to a close after an uplifting day of talks. workshops, poster displays and mingling amongst the ca 200 attendees. Meeting old friends and new at the SBC is highlight of the year.

Great start by Sarah Watts to today's Scottish Botanists' Conference, describing her research on restoration of Scotland's mountain woodland.

In Banchory with time to spare, I headed to Burnett Park, where the curling pond has (prob. native) floating club-rush growing side by side with (prob. introduced) frogbit. In woodland by the tennis courts is common wintergreen, a recent discovery: serrated wintergreen seems sadly to be long gone.

A good day for tiny plants at Sands of Forvie NNR today: after admiring the small adder's-tongues we went back to count them (22 plants), then noticed allseed (10 plants) which we'd missed a few minutes earlier. First allseed I've seen there after over 30 years of trying! My pinkie for scale.

Himalayan knotgrass along the Old Deeside Railway Line to the west of Aberdeen. Quite a large patch but hidden from view down the embankment and behind some bushes. Will control measures drive invasive non-natives to evolve to grow in hidden corners (as if they don't do enough of that already)?

Some lovely areas of wet heath near Boat of Garten had impressively large and dense mats of small cranberry. Given how healthy these mats looked, they had surprisingly few berries, but just a few had fully open flowers so perhaps more to come?

Here's a nice juxtaposition from below Cairngorm earlier this week: bilberry (left) and bog bilberry (right), demonstrating differences in shape and colour of both leaves and stems.

Attractive colouration displayed by deergrass, dwarf willow and viviparous sheep's-fescue, plus curved wood-rush in a rocky hollow, some highlights of a walk from the Coire Cas car park to Ben Macdui summit.

Here's the highlight from a bicycle-based tour of a rather unpromising tetrad inland from Catterline, Kincardineshire: a second county site for rustyback. Close to a house and farm, so perhaps a localised escape though not growing on the outside of a domestic wall.

Pleased to find a new site for alternate-leaved golden-saxifrage, in Glens of Foudland, North Aberdeenshire. Nearby, striking autumn colours of sheep's sorrel and either pale lady's-mantle (BSBI Handbook) or intermediate lady's-mantle (BSBI DDb) as vernacular names for Alchemilla xanthchlora.

Revisited an odd horsetail at Den of Maidencraig LNR, Aberdeen, which I think is shore horsetail, the hybrid of water and common horsetails. Like a long-branched common horsetail but with stems smoother, compressible due to a large central hollow and protruding cortex when pulled apart lengthways.

Close to my heart as well. Have just signed and hope others do too.

How about this for a monster sun spurge? In an arable field margin near Rothienorman, north Aberdeenshire, yesterday.

Spent today in the last two tetrads entirely in Kincardineshire with fewer than 30 higher plant records. Highlights a colony of blue water-speedwell in a little-used sand quarry (scarce in the county) plus a fragment of relic heath (heather grows much bigger when protected from browsing by gorse).

So that's 3 more tetrads struck off North Aberdeenshire's list of areas with inadequate higher plant records. Highlights from the largely aforested low hills west of Huntly were greater and lesser tussock sedges, late flowering grass-of-Parnassus and a hectad first for the bramble Rubus dasyphyllus.

Really enjoyed today's roses workshop led by Roger Maskew and Gareth Knass. Introduced to many new characters to look out for, such as leafy bracts. I clearly have much more to learn about this fascinating but challenging group, so am eagerly awaiting the publication of their BSBI Roses Handbook...

Parsley fern only grows at three sites in North Aberdeenshire, all are spoil heaps from former quarries. Nice to see it doing well at Hill of Foudland today, though its long term prospects here are surely bleak if the heath continues to spread over the currently bare stones.

Six-stamened waterwort, found floating in an artificial loch near Monymusk today. Third South Aberdeenshire site from the year 2000.

Came across an unfamiliar willow at Drumblade, near Huntly, this week. From a distance resembling crack willow, but the bark was smooth and grey. Back home, I'm thinking it's European violet-willow, characterised by: leaves pale below; pruinose stems below buds; and glands on inside of stipules.

An interesting juxtaposition of wild strawberry and stone bramble today by the River North Esk near Edzell, the contrast enhanced by the early onset of autumn colours in the stone bramble leaves.

Twinflower leaves were starting to show their autumn colours at Glen Tanar NNR today.

Back in the spring I took a walk on Tullos Hill, Aberdeen, while the car was being serviced and found what looked like cleft bramble Rubus fissus but was unsure as no leaves present. Went back today during its MOT test and collected the first localised record for the bramble in the NJ90 hectad.

Pleased to find this single plant of prickly saltwort in full bloom on a beach north of Peterhead today, a surprisingly rare species in this part of North Aberdeenshire despite all the suitable habitat (ca 15 km of sandy coast sweeping up past Rattray Head to St Combs, with more to Fraserburgh).

Pellitory-of-the-wall has a long history at Tolquhon Castle, North Aberdeenshire, the first BSBI record being attributed to the Earl of Aberdeen in 1817. Took a bit of searching to find some yesterday as the ruins have mostly been cleansed of vegetation, but I'm pleased to say it is still there!

Think I've finally found corn mint, a single plant growing on shingle exposed by the very low water levels in the River Dee. Surely the higher plant most widely recorded by others in the Aberdeen area that had eluded me, until yesterday's discovery!

Spent the day recording in the countryside near Barthol Chapel, Oldmeldrum, North Aberdeenshire. Nice to see Moss of Cairns is in good condition, despite being surrounded by intensive farming. Sadly not so Leet Moss, much of which has been planted with Sitka spruce.

Visited Johnshaven on the Kincardineshire coast to inspect the slender knapweed reported by @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social . The central portions of their bracts are strikingly long and narrow. Then south to Tangleha' to check up on the vice county's only site for the well named long-bracted sedge.

The BSBI Aquatic Plants survey and identification weekend, based at Muir of Dinnet NNR, was a great success. Many ID tips shared and new records collected including some hectad firsts. Special thanks to organiser Ian Francis and all who assisted including aquatics specialists and expert canoeists!

Delighted to have found bog hair-grass at last, thanks to Mike Smedley's pioneering records at Muir of Dinnet. Leaves are densely tufted, many dead, hence appearing white from a distance. Ligules very long, flowers within spikelets are widely separated and the teeth make the lemmas seem horned.

Final day of the BSBI ASM, and for me a trip to Selkirk Common. Found a very distinctive stonewort growing in standing water with fen pondweed. If confirmed as hedgehog stonewort as suggested by @bramblebotanist.bsky.social then this will be only the 3rd site for the species in Scotland!

Today's top find at the BSBI ASM: alpine rush. Near Synton Loch, in a basic flush which is its true habitat regardless of its name!

Amazing day at Alemoor, Roxburghshire, as part of the BSBI ASM. 2 new grass species for me and a new sedge, plus hybrids from each family. Pics of: holy-grass; narrow small-reed, fibrous tussock-sedge with greater tussock-sedge for comparison; and the hybrid between the latter and remote sedge. Wow!

Coppery monkeyflower providing a striking show by a road in the Scottish Borders SW of Ettrickbridge.

White ramping-fumitory is scarce in North Aberdeenshire, Thursday's was only the tenth record from 2000. This and other species benefitting from potato farmers leaving the outermost ridges of fields unplanted. A satisfying end to a long day cycling round the countryside near Insch.

Presumably these tiny plants on an old quarry floor are petty spurge, taking smallness to new heights so to speak. Does it ever grow shorler than this?

In Corrie Sharroch today looking for larvae of the highland nymph, aka Alpine coffee moth on dark-leaved willows. Each protects itself by folding over a leaf, binding the free edge with silken threads. Plenty else to see, including what I think is the Clova dandelion with striking patent teeth.

No flowers on the lesser bladderwort at Moss of Kennethmont, so had to dibble around in pools to find some: last recorded there in 2002. Also found plentiful lesser tussock-sedge, one past-its-best lesser butterfly-orchid and a large patch of common wintergreen, but the coralroot orchid eluded me.

It's good to know there are still some nice sites close to Aberdeen I've yet to explore. Went to one such today, Grandhome Moss. Highlights flowering lesser bladderwort and massed ranks of bog asphodel.

Impressive number of cherry stones under a street tree in Lumsden yesterday, zoom in to see more!

Spent a hot day pacing the two flushes in North Aberdeenshire from which dwarf birch has been recorded, by Meikle Turf Hill. Found 5 patches, all with multiple bushes, 4 with fruiting plants. Bonus was coming face to face with round-leaved wintergreen, last recorded in the vice county 20 years ago!

The fibrous remains of leaf sheaths of sea arrowgrass were very striking in the saltmarsh at Sands of Forvie NNR this week, perhaps because the dry spring killed off many plants. Don't think I've noticed this effect before.

Found a nice population of small-fruited yellow-sedge at Sands of Forvie NNR, North Aberdeenshire, today. Known elsewhere on the NNR but no previous BSBI records from this 1 km square.

Discovered a new site for common twayblade in the hills above Fettercairn today. A species with only two other modern Kincardineshire sites, plus two pre-1860!

There's only one known site for sand leek in North Aberdeenshire, rank grassland by the River Ythan. Found by Glenn Roberts in 2005, today 50 flowering stems in a 10 m by 2 m strip. Plenty of similar habitat nearby, it's likely there's more waiting to be discovered!

Two big surprises from St Fittick's Park,Aberdeen, yesterday. Cyperus sedge, no previous Kincardineshire records, presumably a relic of wetland habitat creation planting. Slender trefoil, two previous Kincardineshire records, on the site of an ad-hoc bonfire, perhaps from seed on burned tyres?

And finally from Mull, some non-botanical highlights: amazing geology (why sail to Staffa?); transparent burnet moths (translucent at best); feral goats (took a while to track down, but then rather tame so presumably not hiding); and a by-the-wind sailor (closer to my interpretation of transparent).

Windblown shell sand on rocky knolls leads to the creation of delightful areas of herb-rich swards on the Mull coast. Species flowering at the moment include common centaury, hoary whitlowgrass and frog orchid.

At over 890 m on Ben More, Mull, today, in amongst the usual suspects (e.g. dwarf willow) and not unexpecteds (e.g. stone bramble) was the seemingly way-out-of-place spreading-bracted dandelion, a.k.a. 'the fading spotted-dandelion'. Found that yesterday near sea level on Iona!