Wetter than an Otter's Pocket

The hotel reopened today, meaning I'm back on a fixed rota from now until the middle of October. My allocated days off each week are Wednesday and Thursday and so, what this being a Wednesday, I absented myself from proceedings and headed out into the rain. The other (note singular not plural) member of daytime staff messaged me a while later, "Morning, have we slept in?" to which I replied "Check the rota you wrote, I'm off for the next two days. Have funtimes." At that very second, and not a moment before, I knew the penny would have finally dropped in her head. Shit, I'm on my own and we don't have any more staff - panic!! Hey ho, it's not like I haven't mentioned this before once or twice...

At that precise moment in time I was about fifty miles away at a lovely place called Kilmarie, situated most way down the Elgol road. If you don't know the Elgol road, this classic video (of some other guy, it's not me) is definitely worth watching. The last minute or so is the best bit.

I was sat in my car re-checking the weather forecast and wondering how it had changed so drastically in the hour or so since I'd set off. A bit of mid-morning drizzle had seemingly morphed into wall-to-wall solid rain, talk about instant karma. I glanced at my butterfly net on the backseat, laughed to myself, and donned waterproofs.  

The woodland tracks were essentially deep mud, so I cut through the trees instead and followed the river towards the sea. There's a lone Yellow Azalea in the middle of these woods, I found it during a botany walk in 2019 and it remains the sole record in the vice county (apart from a planted one from 2013), so I thought I ought to pop over and say hello just to get it on my Skye Yearlist. I actually walked past it on the way in, but found it as I was heading out again afterwards. It's just coming into bud, but there were several of last year's aborted buds showing a heavy infestation of Seifertia azaleae, otherwise known as Rhododendron Budblast

Rhododendron Budblast blasting an Azalea bud

It's nice to see this fungus fruiting, ordinarily all I see are the black bristles. Definitely alive and hence definitely countable for my Big Yearlist. Common knowledge will have you believe that it is the action of Rhododendron Leafhoppers piercing the unopened buds which acts as the vector for spreading Seifertia fungus. Which may be true in some areas. But Skye has no Rhododendron Leafhoppers. iRecord shows just a single (questionable, I would say) Scottish record, all others are from south of Yorkshire. Clearly there's more to the story than it being caused by hoppers.

My Skye Yearlist currently stands at 878 species and the target is 1500 species. The thought process behind having a Skye yearlist is that it will keep me active locally, rather than just constantly working and then shooting off to the mainland on my days off. We'll see how it pans out as the year progresses. 

Invert activity in the woods was low, apart from Tree Slugs and Balea sarsii which were both seen in abundance. I did manage a passable piccie of what is surely Skye's commonest barkfly. Incredible to think that it's a South American species first found in Europe a mere eleven years ago (see this paper) and yet is now ubiquitous here on Skye, even coming indoors on occasion. 

Chilenocaecilius ornatipennis

A small moth flew up at my feet and pitched into the undergrowth. It looked like a pale Argyresthia species, but once it was in the pot I could see it for what it actually was.

Plutella xylostella the Diamondback Moth

Bob, the Skye bird recorder, runs a moth trap in his garden. He had several of these in his trap this morning. They are a migrant from southern climes, possibly directly out of Africa in the case of these individuals. Small Mottled Willow is also turning up all over the place recently, again on the back of the southerly winds from Africa. Quite incredible really. 

By the time I'd wandered back towards the car I was pretty wet. But even with fogged up windows I managed the Elgol road back to Broadford without mishap. Maybe the guy in the video should think about getting some proper tyres fitted rather than those low-profile jobbies he had. I'm not sure what tomorrow's plans are yet, but they won't include being at work.

In other news, there have been no further sightings of yesterday's Orca pod. In fact it seems that I was the very last person to see them. I've been advised today that it's a fundamental belief of all pan-species naturalists that all species are equally important. But Killer Whale is more equal than others! 

Can't say I disagree.

I have this playing in the background. If it doesn't get your feet tapping and your head bobbing there's something not quite right with you is all I can say. As always, hope you enjoy!