I am currently working on a project to produce a photographic archive of Mountain Woodlands. These are upper tree-line communities of trees and shrubs that have been largely lost in the UK due to centuries of over grazing and muirburning. Efforts are being made by conservationists to restore and enhance these habitats throughout upland Scotland. Mountain willows make up the largest group of species in the upper tree-line. Catkins start to appear on some of the willows in late April. The pollen and nectar that they produce must be a vital early food source for upland insects such as Heath and Bilberry bumblebees.

Heath Bumblebee, Bombus jonellus, queen nectaring on a female Downy Willow, Salix lapponum catkin (above) and the same species resting on a female catkin of the Tea-leaved Willow, S. phylicifolia (right).                       Bilberry or Mountain Bumblebee, B. Monticola, queen nectaring  on a female Wooly Willow, S. lanata catkin(below).

Willows belong to one of those groups in the plant kingdom where each individual is either sexually male or female, unlike many where male and female sexual parts are combined within the same flower.               Emerging male catkins of Mountain Willow, Salix arbuscula (above) and Downy Willow, S. lapponum (left).