Back on Skye

So that's it, my mini-break is over. Done and dusted. Tonight's blog is brought to you from my usual spot at the back end of nowhere here on Skye. However, whilst still on the mainland I stopped off at a shop and grabbed a particularly lovely bottle of red, one that isn't readily available locally. So if you notish any shpelling mishtakes...

Today turned up a couple of unexpected species beginning in the backstreets of Grantown-on-Spey. First up was a nice patch of Biting Stonecrop, so named due to the hot aftertaste it leaves if you chew on a sprig. In this instance the aftertaste lasted several minutes and I was glad to glug down some water! Finding Biting Stonecrop was not entirely unexpected, it's a bit of a street weed in this part of the world, but the patch of Ostrich Fern growing on the banks of the Kylintra Burn was a complete shock to the system! Plus, after Holly Fern obviously, it only happens to be my favourite fern!

Ostrich Fern fertile fronds. Griddie is NJ02962812 if you're in the area

This should put a smile on the face of the BSBI Recorder for the county. Ostrich Fern has one previous record for Moray: a 'very good size patch in a field' near Pitlochry in 2016. Ten years on and I've stumbled across a second site for it, sweet! 

I headed north and popped into Lochindorb in the hope of Red Grouse on the moors. No luck with the grouse, but I did find a rather noisy colony of Common Gulls strewn across the moorland.

Common Gull nesting colony at Lochindorb

I scanned the moorland and realised there were several hundred gulls present. A quick count and I came up with a figure of 623 birds. Given that some were constantly flying around and many were hidden behind clumps of Heather, I think this is a conservative estimate. I drove for a couple of miles, scanning without success for Red Grouse (they're usually easy here) before turning around and heading back out the same way that I came in. It was then that I realised the gull colony extended to the other side of the road too (I was blind-sided by a hill from my original spot). A quick scan revealed another couple of hundred birds sat on the moor. That's a minimum count of 800+ birds! Last year I found a colour-ringed Common Gull on Skye. I tracked down the ringer, he'd ringed it as a chick near Slochd Summit three months earlier. I wonder if anybody is ringing these birds. They'd need a hefty bag of rings if so! 

Continuing northwards I briefly visited Loch Flemington to the south of Nairn. I'd read online that it has outrageous numbers of Coot and Mute Swan, both of which would be yearticks for me. Well, it was crap. One Mute Swan (duly yearticked) and about 20 Coot. And nowhere to park. I loitered uneasily in a passing place, just like you're not supposed to do, before heading off to somewhere hopefully more rewarding. Which it was!

Mossy Stonecrop looking not very much like a moss

Common Whitlowgrass with its Y-shaped hairs

Shepherd's Cress with its funky-shaped basal leaves

Small Cudweed was quite commonplace

All of the above were in the sandy soils around the Ardersier area. It's a fabulous place to explore with lots of pretty decent arable margins and even the roadside laybys hold a pretty decent flora. Of course, mid-March is not the ideal time of year to be looking at small plants, but it seemed rude not to drop in seeing as I was just three or four miles away anyway. I didn't take a pic, but the basal leaves of the wonderfully-named Harpur-Crewe's Leopard's-bane were very evident in a roadside embankment. The flowers are massively eye-catching later in the year. There are records of Plantain-leaved Leopard's-bane along the same stretch of road in May 1971, but I'm pretty sure I've identified my plant correctly as Harpur-Crewe's. Of course, the 1971 record could refer to a completely different plant (it says 'in a roadside ditch' whereas mine is on a raised roadside verge). Maybe I need to revisit/redet my original identification later this year. I'll be gutted if I've messed it up.  

By now I was headed westwards, on a slow course back to Skye. I cut through Inverness and parked up at the Caledonian Canal. The next hour was useful, adding a number of plants to my yearlist with the highlight being a patch of Curled Pondweed in shallow water, nestled neatly between a shopping trolley and a splay-legged Common Toad. A singing Chiffchaff, a hang of Purple Clematis (I've previously keyed it through when in flower) and plenty of fresh Reed Canary-grass shoots being other notables. 

I took a wander through some forestry near Glenmoriston, but had to turn back due to ongoing timber extraction, or whatever they call it. Big machinery and lots of noise and hi-viz jackets. Not conducive to peacefully communing with nature (ie swiping my net at various flies and beetles). I potted a tachinid which may well turn out to be a Macquartia, it certainly has hairy eyes, and somehow managed to swipe a Common Groundhopper straight out of the air as it leapt ahead of my foot. Good to see the ol' ninja reflexes can be relied upon when required...  

All too soon I was back on Skye, a couple of Herring Gulls over the bridge followed by an adult White-tailed Eagle were the first birds seen. Yep, it's good to be back amongst the familiar once more. None of those freaky Mute Swans or Coots here, thank you very much! I dropped in at Waterloo seeing as the tide was partly out. My flock of 17 Bar-tailed Godwits incresed to 21, then to 29 which is when a Sanderling decided to drop in too. I put the news out and within 2 minutes received a message from Neil the Post(man) saying "Oi, get off my patch! I am watching you. Look across the bay at the houses. See the red van". My reply was "can you see the Sanderling that just dropped in?" Two minutes later he rocked up, in his red van, and yearticked Sanderling. Rather surprisingly, this is only the second time I've seen a Sanderling on Skye! So, along with this morning's Ostrich Fern, my day was bookended by unexpected species. An hour later I was back at the hotel. Three days away and I've walked back into pure incompetence. It's probably as well there wasn't anybody else here to hear me kicking off. I think Fred Durst is a charlatan, a wannabe and a dick, but the lyrics in his track kinda sums up my evening. Enjoy!