West Highlands, 2022 – 6

Tags

alpaca, azure hawker, black darter dragonfly, comma butterfly, Common Hawker, Cona Glen, golden-ringed dragonfly, goosander, highland cow, highland pony, Knot grass moth, Loch Eil, Loch Linnhe, Meadow pipit, oystercatcher, pine marten, rhea, River Lochy, Scotch argus, sea eagle, Stronchreggan, The Jacobite, white-tailed eagle

Friday, 16th September, last wildlife day. Out before breakfast, for nearly two hours! We had two hopes: to see black grouse lekking, and to see otters. For the first, we drove through Fort William and just out the other side, to the south I think. When we got to the lekking ground, at first light, the first thing I saw through my binoculars was a jogger climbing a stile at its edge. “Well, that’s put paid to that, then”, said Jon. We hung around a bit to see if any grouse that had been frightened off would come back, but they didn’t.

We moved back through Fort William to the mouth of the River Lochy, (which joins the junction of Lochs Linnhe and Eil at which the town is built) parked in a small industrial estate, and walked through it to the river, with instructions to be very quiet, and not stand too close to the edge of the bank, because the otters were likely in their dens below our feet.

The view at that time of the (very cold!) morning was gorgeous.

Sadly we saw no otter, but did, in the early morning dimness, and over the other side, see goosander,

swans, (plus hooded crow and pigeon),

and a couple of white-tailed eagles, which was an unexpected pleasure.

It was good to get back to Glenloy Lodge for a warming breakfast.

For the rest of the day, it was much warmer than it had been earlier in the week. Not hot, but pleasantly warm, especially in the sun. Today’s main outing again took us on the very first part of the Road to the Isles, that is along the north side of Loch Eil, then back along its southern side, then south along the western side of the upper part of Loch Linnhe.

From the southern side of Loch Eil, we again saw The Jacobite, aka Harry Potter’s train, passing along the northern side.

Oystercatchers

Highland ponies glimpsed from the van

Yet more while-tailed eagles. Jon thought they might be the same we had seen before breakfast.

Highland cows, in their original colour. The Victorians preferred the red, so red was bred to become the norm.

Jon sees what he can see.

I cannot find this caterpillar in my butterfly book, but an internet search leads me to think it may be that of a Knot grass moth.

An alpaca and two rheas, not animals you expect to see in the Scottish Highlands

Around midday, we left the van for a walk up Stronchreggan, off Loch Linnhe.

David, Jon and Angela ahead of me

One of the largest British dragonflies, the golden-ringed

Two of the smallest, black darters

The others got very excited to see this, an azure hawker. It is only found in the West Highlands. And according to my book, this was pretty late for it to be about.

This, on the other hand, was just a common hawker…

The moon was going down…

Unconnected with that, we had to turn round and make our way back to the van, not least to have some lunch. But I held back, so reluctant was I to tear myself away from the magnificent view, and just being – warm what’s more – in such wild splendour. I took large breaths to try to take it in.

Comma butterfly, unusual in Scotland apparently

We moved further down Loch Linnhe,

and went for another walk, this time along the Cona Glen.

David was very keen to find a Scotch argus butterfly. As we were about to turn round, Jon and Angela found one for him, and caught it in their net. It was very near the end of its active life, but at least it was a Scotch argus.

Meadow pipit

A final look at Ben Nevis, and it was time for home. We returned via the Corran Ferry.

A pine marten decided to oblige before dinner, while there was still some reasonable light for photos.

Those claws!

The wildlife trip was over, but not my holiday. Because of transport timings, I had to remain in the area for another day, so stayed in Fort William on the second Saturday night. The last post in this series will recount a very different day, yet one with some links to the previous six.

Wildlife in the garden, part 2

Tags

comfrey, comma butterfly, gatekeeper butterfly, hornbeam, hornet mimc hoverfly, Orange hawkbit, scabious, verbena bonariensis

More August photos. When I let ‘the meadow’ grow, it was interesting to see the flowers that the grasses produced.  Here are just two of them:

Here’s a spider nursery in the long grass:

Bumble bee on Verbena bonariensis, spreading the pollen.

Wood pigeon taken from, rather than in, my garden, though I suspect there was a nest in my hornbeam as I once found a broken egg underneath it. (Bella, cat, licked it up later.)

Mallow

Comma butterfly on v.b. You can just make out the little symbol for which it is named on its back wing.

Small tortoiseshell on v.b. The whole plant is not the most attractive, being very spindly, but the insects love it and the small flowers are very pretty.

Gatekeeper on …? I planted it but I can’t remember what it is. Possibly Burning bush, Dictamnus albus.

My lavender is right at my feet where I sit for coffee on nice days. I took many tens of photos of insects on it this summer.

Gatekeeper and friends on eryngium

My neighbour Sue gave me this Orange hawkbit to plant in my meadow. It flourished and I hope it will have offspring next year. Being of the dandelion family, the insects love it. I find that it is also called Fox and Cubs.

You don’t see grasshoppers until you move around in the long grass, at which point they start living up to their name.

Honeybee on scabious.

Two gatekeepers on eryngium

I have to admit that I was a little afraid when I first saw this, 2 cm long, though hornets are not in fact very aggressive. But I was relieved when further research introduced me to the Hornet mimic hoverfly, of which this is fine example. It’s on water mint at the side of my pond.

This micro-moth is on lavender. It is no more than 6 or 7 millimetres from nose to tail.

Arachnophobes alert. There will be a couple more photos of spiders at the end of the week…

This is comfrey. Some weeks previously the plant had been in tatters. I could have prevented that by removing the larvae of the tiger moths which were munching away at its leaves, but I preferred to wait and enjoy the beautiful moths that would emerge later. To my great pleasure the plant fought back once the larvae had had their fill, grew three times as big and flowered again.

Here are a few of the plants in my pond.  Not strictly wildlife, but placed with wildlife in mind.

Pontederia (lanceolata I think)

I just fell for this at a garden centre a couple of years ago, and I can’t find it in any of my books. Any help with the name would be appreciated.

This is about 2 metres tall. I think it’s a verbascum, but I’m not sure.

It is clear that I am not very good at retaining the names of cultivated plants.

Young sparrows caught red-beaked

A wren thinking of getting in on the act.

My three feeders all hang from my hornbeam at about 8 feet off the ground. This is good because the tree’s bark is very smooth and the cats cannot climb up it. This is a little bad because the light is poor where they hang, and clear photographs are difficult to obtain.  That’s my excuse anyway.

Blue tit

 

Some of those dozens of hungry sparrows

Back to the last flowers of the very popular lavender.

Female Common darter I think. Definitely a dragonfly – wings open and considerably larger than damselfly.

Final post on this subject in another couple of days’ time, when we get to September.