Geograph - photograph every grid square

Cornstone outcrop

This outcrop is very similar in appearance to one that is to be found on Dumbarton Muir (NS4480 : Cornstone outcrop); in both cases, the grikes (water-worn fissures) are a prominent feature.

This is just one of several large outcrops that can be seen in this area along a line running from east to west (many smaller outcrops and individual boulders also occur on that line). At the western extremity, there is a former cornstone workings (NS3678 : Former cornstone workings on Carman Muir); see that item for a description of the nature of cornstone, and its use.

Like other cornstone outcrops in this area, it is host to a particular lime-loving species of spleenwort (a fern); see NS3778 : Maidenhair spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes). Lichen species that I encountered here included Ochrolechia tartarea ( Link ), which was growing here on mosses, rather than directly on the rock surface.

The background is largely obscured by haze, but the escarpment of the Kilpatrick Hills appears on the skyline, and the housing scheme that just barely visible at the foot of the hills is Bellsmyre.