From Small Beginnings...

Today was good. Actually, today was very good. I started off down in Portree where, along with several other members of the Skye Nature Group, we cobbled together a decent programme of outings for the forthcoming summer. Lots of input from everybody else, I just asked daft questions ("what's the habitat there, what species occur, how midgey is it, whereabouts is it, how do you spell that again?" etc etc) I really am completely out of my depth when it comes to knowing my way around up here. Luckily, everyone else seemed to know the entire island like the back of their hand. We now have a provisional programme of around twenty further outings which will take us into October, just need to confirm dates with a couple of leaders first. Rather excitingly, we're even doing an away day to Raasay, I think we're heading into an area of limestone which should offer some intriguing possibilities. 

Whilst in Portree I checked for birdfeeders along Woodpark, there was a Hawfinch seen at one yesterday! The only feeders I could see were two that were nailed to a fencepost and neither was hosting a Hawfinch (or anything, in fact) whilst I was there. Of course, I may not have been at the right feeder. 

Right, safely back into my own square again and I headed out across the hilltop, down through the woods and had a scan across the beach. The sun was out and temperatures were approaching warm. I had my fourfold net and a bunch of tubes at the ready. But the wind dashed my plans, gusting at 40mph. Not ideal for swishing a net about! The dead sheep held a few flies, I potted one but it's a Muscid. I really don't see myself progressing very far with that. There was one fly I could identify though

Tipula rufina - hunkered down on the leeward side of a birch trunk

I spotted the next species and gave a small groan (followed by a wry smile), this was one of the species on Tony's Hitlist that we were just too early to find when he was up here in March

Melancholy Thistle. Not at its finest yet though, Tony will just have to come back!

I wandered down to the River Conon hoping for the chance to swing my net around. Despite plenty of net swinging, I didn't manage much; a few tiny flies, a tiny spider, some seedheads.... I did spot these cuties huddled on a pebble in a shallow pond

Flat-head Mayfly nymphs clinging to a pebble

These are from the family Heptageniidae, of which there are eleven species in Britain. These mayflies only occur in fast flowing waters. The low, broad body and eyes situated to the rear of a wide, rounded head are adaptations to help reduce drag in this turbulent environment. I'm not really sure I could successfully key them to species in this stage, possibly? The adults I can do. Whatever they are, they're new for me.

Edit: the four darker markings on each femur tell us that these are from the genus Electrogena (just 2 British species). Electrogena affinis is only known from Yorkshire, whereas Electrogena lateralis is common and widespread  across most of Britain including all of Scotland. It also lacks the white markings on the front of the head as seen in E.affinis. Sweet, that was remarkably easy! 

I paid a visit to the Mitella ovalis plants that grow here. They're starting to put up flowerheads at last. Again, something Tony was keen to see but was here too early

This is the original plant I first spotted last year, still doing well by the looks of it

Freaky flowers, huh? I still recall the first time I clapped eyes on this plant. I had absolutely no idea what it was, only that I knew that I'd never seen it before. I notified the BSBI Recorder that night and the rest is history. My second 'new to Britain', cool stuff.  

Over a dozen folks have now been shown this plant in Uig Wood

I'm leading a Skye Nature Group walk through Uig Wood on August 7th this year and undoubtedly we'll be paying a visit to these plants whilst on site. So make a note of the date and come along, the more the merrier. Actually, I say that but....the very first time I ever led a walk was an eye-opener. It was a mid-May Dawn Chorus Bird Walk and I was a tad nervous beforehand. So you can imagine my astonishment when twenty-two people (and a dog) rocked up to be shown some birds. Ha, I think I almost ran away, though it was a fine walk in the end. I'd say anything up to about ten is a sensible number for one leader to handle, more than that and it's a bit like trying to herd cats. 

I continued down through the woods and found myself scanning through the gull flock. Juvenile Glaucous Gull straight away - yes! And an Iceland Gull further out but in the same field of view! Wow, nice double-whammy, not sure I've ever seen both species in the same field of view before. The Glauc got up and flopped its way closer, offering me the chance of some pics

I even managed a brief bit of shaky digi-binned video. It's not very good quality and the wind was pretty strong. The Iceland Gull never came closer than about 200 metres, pointless even trying to gain a meaningful image.

I was surprised to see budburst happening almost everywhere I looked. Hawthorn, Sycamore, Rowan and Sallow were all showing freshly unfurling leaves, joining the Hazels and Elder which have been in leaf for some time now. Ramsons is really starting to form lovely, thick carpets and Meadowsweet is popping up everywhere too. Lovely, just lovely. After a great deal of searching I gave up trying to find the first Wood-sorrel of the year. Then I stopped to get something out of my rucksack and randomly spotted a patch by my feet. Typical

Wood-sorrel with Bluebell leaf, just in case you were puzzled!

 Talking of Bluebells, found my first flower today. Lovely things

Looking decidedly unlovely in the glare of  the flash...

In other news, I've been busy with the light trap all week. It actually blew over and the eggboxes turned to mushy pap during last night's wind and rain. That aside, however it's been pretty good. 

Brindled Ochre, Hebrew Characters & Common Quaker for starters

A male Glossosoma boltoni - a caddisfly with a big 'pouch' at the base of each forewing

Philopotamus montanus - a stunningly patterned caddis of fast flowing rocky streams

Also had a few of the huge Dor Beetle Geotrupes stercoraria buzzing around the bedroom. Imagine a bumblebee the size of a spaniel - that's the sound they produce in flight. Makes you kinda sit up and pay attention as to what it is that's just flown through your open window! The whole beetle is far too large to fit into one image, so here's the pertinent features (happily located at opposite ends)

Smoothly rounded outer edge to mandibles...

...equally hairy across the entire width of the abdominal tergites

They smell awful, by the way. I know this because it bumped off my face whilst I was trying to pot it up as it bumbled around my room, knocking over books, lamps, bottles of wine etc as it went... Dor Beetles spend their lives bumbling from dung pile to dung pile. They pong. Find one, grab it, sniff it, heck you can lick it if you must! Let it go and smell your fingers. Or pot it up and see how long the stench lingers after you've released it again. Dor Beetles, a-dor-able. 

But anyway, Skye Nature Group has a programme of outings that'll keep me busy throughout the whole summer and well into autumn. Skye Botany Group is about to start up once more, hopefully we'll be doing lots of square-bashing for the forthcoming 2020 Atlas. The weather will be great, the midges will be non-existent and I'm going to see shedloads of good stuff in amazing places in the company of brilliant people! Ok, so maybe the weather and midges are out of my control, but the rest should hold true. Bring it on, this summer is going to be amaaazing!