A Day Without Rain

For the first time in what must almost certainly be decades, the rain has finally stopped. The ground is completely sodden and new pot holes have formed along the access track due to an impromptu river running down it for the past few days. I gave myself the day off work and headed out into a wonderfully dry day.

I headed for Loch Suardal north of Dunvegan to see if the family of Whooper Swans were still in residence. They were, and the light was behind me. I reached for my camera and...

A tad under exposed, but I'm happy with that! 

The lonesome juvenile is still hanging around by itself in the reedbed, but I was pleased to see that one of the juveniles from the family group was fairly near to it and showed no signs of aggression. Maybe they'll become buddies yet. 

Continuing north I reached a roadside lochan which never has any birds on it. Until now, that is. A drake Goldeneye was swimming about in the middle of the lochan. It headed for the far side as soon as I drove into view, but it's not a huge lochan (otherwise it would be a loch...) and I managed a few smudges with the camera.

My first Goldeneye on Skye this year!

Pleased with the Whoopers and the Goldeneye, I put the news out on the local WhatsApp bird group, noticing as I did so that it was the first news since last Tuesday (and today is Saturday!) Did I mention that it has been raining rather a lot recently?

I headed into nearby Dunvegan Woods for a plant-related stroll. Obviously it's not a great time of year for looking at woodland plants, but I had it in mind that Krauss's Clubmoss could occur. A bit of a crazy idea really, seeing as it is unknown from Skye. But if you don't look... 

Young Chilean Hard-fern fronds with native Hard-fern fronds to the right

Dunvegan Castle is closed for the winter, I think it usually opens up again at Easter. Clearly though, the gardens themselves are undergoing winter work. The site where I first found these Chilean Hard-ferns looked to be a bit of a dumping ground. Two fresh spoil heaps now cover most of the ferns, who knows what junk will be introduced to the woods in this latest batch of soil. Krauss's Clubmoss with luck!

Annual Meadow-grass is still flowering well 

I've fired up the light trap this evening, more in hope than expectation. First time it's been lit for a while. I don't like the idea of attracting moths to the light source when the weather is less than ideal for them, the important thing is to allow them to simply get on with their lives. The rain has given them more than enough to deal with with lately, never mind a night wasted in a bucket full of egg boxes. I'll give it until midnight, then release anything caught to continue with its business while the night-time conditions are good. 

Edit: by midnight the trap has produced three flies; a Trichocera regelationis (winter gnat), a Coelopa frigida (kelp fly) and a Mycetophila (fungus gnat). The latter is not M.ornata, which is the only one of those that I can do. All three were quickly released. No moths whatsoever, but it had turned decidedly cold beneath the clear skies.

Keep this to yourself, but there's a rumour going around that next week is looking to be largely dry. Wouldn't that be something!