Scottish Jasper (and my failure to find it)

So it turns out that minerals in Scotland are a lot more popular than I thought they would be. For this reason I have been toying with the idea of starting a separate blog entirely for my writing work. I had wanted to do it the other way around since this is the 'Katriona Writes' page but there are too many established readers now to change it up. So any good titles you have for a writing page in the comments please!

This Monday I went on a wet and windy quest into the Campsie Fells in an effort to find Jasper. Apparently it is one of the most abundant minerals in the area but that didn't help me any in terms of identification. I went armed only with the knowledge that you have to chip it out of rock and that it is red, yellow, blue and green.

Yeah the sign says it all...

What makes Scottish Jasper so special is that it comes in mixed patterns of red and yellow. Anywhere else in the world it comes out of the rock as either one or the other; but ins Scotland it can be streaked or spotted with both colours. Once again I was left in awe of this country's ability to produce world class minerals... if I could find any.

My research showed that the divide in colour of the Jasper is much like the staining I have found on other minerals in both the lower highlands and the southern uplands. A high presence of pyrite and other minerals in the soil leads to all shades of yellow, red, orange and pink minerals which would otherwise be white.

In the photo opposite you can see four minerals. The one on the left is Calcite druse, the other three are all Cairngorm Quartz. As you can see, it might be difficult to identify the chunk on the right and the bottom piece as Cairngorm Quartz simply because of the colour. This deep orange or yellow form is sometimes called a Cairngorm Citrine, so I'm pretty happy to add a few to the collection.

Anyway - back to the Jasper. My research showed up that it can be found throught the Crawford Moors (that's what they used to call the Leadhills/Wanlockhead/Crawford/Crawfordjohn areas back in the day) as well as in the Campsie Fells. It is mentioned in the Scottish Agates Jasper section that of all the recorded other places Jasper is found were 'dry' when the team there went to check.The culmination of this meant that I ended up at the Car Park in the Sky in the Campsies in really terrible weather, armed with a rock hammer and one dog.

Jasper still in the rock, someone already pinched most of it.

There are a number of walks and hikes you can take in this area and, had the weather been better, I would be keen to try them out. As it was I had to make do with reaching the nearest rock faces to the car park and having a gander. Contrary to the title I DID actually find some, and brought a small chip of it from the rock home with me...among another ten potential Jasper samples which I then mixed together...DOH!

Luckily I took a photo to prove it...

Fintry Kirk - something creepy that caught my eye on the way

Kai, dam unknown (I got lost)

So the result is a distinct lack of Scottish Jasper for the moment. I will definitely add it to my list of very interesting minerals though. As you can see from the colour it is fantastic in its natural form.It seems such a shame to chip it away from there.

The conclusion? I don't know if I have the heart for Scottish Jasper... but I have heard that you find Jasper-like Agate in Burn Anne... onwards and upwards, I always say!

(Jan 2023 update - Now that I can spot it I find more jasper than anything else. Check your nearest river, you are bound to find it.)