Hola 2026

As planned, I donned a headtorch and took a quick wander outside to kickstart my pan-species yearlist into action. Stepping outside, I saw a harvestman on the wall. Well that didn't take long to get the list started, all of about one second whilst still stood in the doorway!

Oligolophus hanseni - species number 1 of 2500+

A quick skirmish around the hotel walls, windows and doorframes added numerous Amaurobius similis and Zygiella x-notata, plus a couple of beefy Steatoda nobilis.  I still can't get over these being here, I keep finding new ones too. I think I must have counted about ten individuals by now. I'd turned my light trap on a few hours earlier and was keen to see what it had attracted. It didn't take long to confirm that nothing at all had been attracted, that'll be thanks to the rain and hail showers that had passed through. I potted a small nematoceran from a wall, probably a Trichocera. One to check later this evening. I eventually turned in sometime after 2am and woke up pretty late. A second check of the trap revealed an ongoing lack of anything inside or around it, then I hit the road.

Up at the crack of... erm... 9am!

I like to let my car idle for a couple of minutes when the temperatures are low. And I'm glad I did today, for all of a sudden a flock of Shags flew into view and pitched onto the sea right in front of the hotel. I think my previous high count was three. Ahead of me now sat a raft of forty six! Presumably taking shelter from the northerly winds which have whipped the open seas into a cauldron of waves.

Part of the raft of 46 Shags. Nice!

I didn't intend to go far today, I fancied a look out to sea near Dunvegan, then maybe loop down to Struan area and back up again. First up, I figured I'd check the mudflats below the main carpark in Dunvegan. A few gulls and ducks for the yearlist, then in flew a noisy flock of Greylag Geese. I gave them a quick scan and was pleased to note a pair of Pink-feet sat amongst them. Most Pink-feet passed through a few months back and there seem to be very few loitering on Skye this winter. Nice.

The light was not great...

I headed north a couple of miles and very quickly abandoned thoughts of scanning for whales, the sea was far too lumpy with white waves as far as the eye could see, plus the wind buffeting my scope would have made for difficult viewing. I actually had a message come through on the local cetacean WhatsApp group from a guy who was watching a Humpback. He said the sea was so rough he could only see it when it did full breaches! Fairplay to him for even trying. I'll try again in a few days when the sea state improves. 

Original and cropped versions

This big fella was soaring (as majestically as these things ever can...) northwards as I was driving southwards. I stopped the car in the middle of the road and simply hung out of the window, clicking away like a loon on the camera. White-tailed Eagles are often ponderous fliers, laborious even, but they can cover a good distance in a very short time when they want to and this individual was definitely not hanging around to have its picture taken. 

Back at Dunvegan, I had a quick stroll around a bit of woodland that is good for ferns, realised that I'd left my waterproofs indoors as the rain started, then sheltered behind a tree trunk as the rain suddenly became hail. I grabbed a frond of Polypodium, noting the spent sori on the underside, a bit of microscopy will (hopefully) confirm the species involved. Oh hey, maybe you should click on my brand new for 2026 Blog and read all about it there! 

Struan was a bit of a whitewash as numerous hail showers passed through in quick procession, but the count of 49 Lapwings on the mud was pretty good by Skye standards. 

Back indoors I did a quick tally of my nascent yearlist and discovered that it was already over a hundred species. I think I'll keep a Skye yearlist and a Patch yearlist too. No real idea of target numbers just yet. Well, clearly I'm aiming for 2500+ for the year in it's entirety as my Challenge with Ghostie. Maybe 1200 species for Skye and 500 for the Patch? No idea, I'll give it some thought.

Nice to know Moles survived the flooding. Of course, only the truly desperate would yeartick soil as a Mole

Right, I have a suspected Trichocera to look at (edit: it was a male Trichocera major) and a polypody frond to identify. Hope you've managed to get out and see some stuff for yourselves today. Here's hoping for a bit less wind and hail over the next few days!