Yesterday it was warm. Today it was pretty flippin' hot. Tomorrow it's meant to be a complete scorcher, maybe up to nearly twenty degrees. This is Skye, we just aren't used to such tropical weather! The obvious (and rather immediate) result of the soaring temperature is the sudden appearance of flies. A couple of weeks ago I was catching hoverflies by lowering a glass tube over their lethargic bodies as they sat shivering in flowerheads. But now they are like tiny bullets whizzing around at near supersonic speeds - time for the butterfly net to be unfurled for just the second time this year. If it carries on like this I may go batshit crazy and try out my new beating tray for the very first time since buying it some seven weeks ago...
Anyway, hoverflies are now decidedly abundant. Here's a small selection for you. I have shedloads more in pots/on pins
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| Eristalis arbustorum |
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| Rhingia campestris - "does my nose look big in this?" |
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| Portevenia maculata NOT on a Ramsons leaf, by way of a change! |
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| Cheilosia illustrata |
Alongside the hoverflies, Green-veined Whites and moths have started to become obvious in Uig Wood. It took a bit of an effort, but finally I succeeded in taking a half decent pic of both male and female Green-veined Whites.
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| Common Carpet - I almost trod on this! |
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| Gracillaria syringella - currently swarming beneath Ash trees. I saw 100 or so beside 50 metres of path |
Whilst in the woods I was on the look out for a certain rotten log. One of the guys at work had earlier described to me a "giant mushroom", by the description I figured it had to be Dryad's Saddle. A short while later and...
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| Dryad's Saddle - would be nice on toast, I guess |
As an oddity I spied this thing growing amongst a carpet of the more usual variety
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| White Bluebells! |
Naturally...
Fun Factoid: there's a local character (which is a polite way of saying 'unsupervised lunatic') who pretty much keeps himself to himself. Well, himself and his Border Collie named Mollie. (Mollie the Collie, holy crap - the penny has literally just dropped haha!) Anyway, I often see him but we've never spoken. Tonight that changed....
I could see him walking towards me. It's not a wide footpath, absolutely no avoiding Mollie and her owner. As I drew ever closer, it dawned on me that he looked drunk. Waving his stick around with gusto and slewing across the width of the path. Anyway, upshot was that he broke his silence to ask me a question.
I quote: "Excuse me, is it a state of mind or is that how you walk?"
I stopped and silently stared at him, wondering what he meant.
"I mean, you're always walking with a definite purpose. Is that how you always walk or is something always on your mind?"
I muttered something about not being the kind of guy to dawdle, he seemed happy with that, we parted company. Mollie was her usual quiet self throughout. I feel as though I've been under quiet observation this past 18 months. Not an entirely nice feeling.
Islanders, eh? Not enough to do. Must check some ash trees. That's a very nice micro.
ReplyDeleteBlimey, I guess we are all going to be under observation as well when we visit. Well as long as they are not playing any banjo's it should be okay I guess!
ReplyDeleteAnd like Ali I will be looking carefully for micros around any Ash trees - great looking moth.
You'll both definitely see syringella when you're up here - if not the adults then at least billions of larvae wrecking the Ash leaves!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was still down south, syringella mines were particularly obvious on both lilac and privet bushes (garden or wild). In fact, in parts of London I'm fairly certain I've never seen an un-mined lilac or privet! So check those too if you have any locally.
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