Yesterday I reached the halfway stage of my quest to record 2500 living wild species in Britain during 2026. The halfway species itself was Smooth Meadow-grass, one of a handful of grasses that I managed to identify yesterday. There were, of course, several others that I completely failed to identify. Grasses...meh. However, I did find quite a few tussocks of Meadow Oat-grass scattered amongst the far commoner Downy Oat-grass, the former being a full-fat lifer for me. Get in! This all happened at Dornoch, close to the golf course. Today I returned to Skye via Inverness and added Wall Barley to the yearlist, which is a really decent record this far north. I found quite a bit of Water Bent too, clearly spreading after I found it new to Inverness just last year. I do quite like the idea of identifying grasses, it's the actual keying process that lets me down. I think 'moderately inept' sums up my ability with the confounded things. Electric shock punishment is probably the only way I'm going to improve with them.
Gloriously unedited drive-by pic of Wall Barley at Inverness
And yet I am...tired. Hmmm, weary is probably a better word. Or maybe phasing. Yes, phasing is the perfect word. Halfway towards my target, a mere 42% of the way through the year and I'm absolutely ready to just jack it all in and walk Land's End to John o' Groats again. Maybe I'll actually make it up to Muckle Flugga and Out Stack this time.
The issue is my workplace. A member of staff quit yesterday, just walked out due to the complete mismanagement of... well of pretty much everything. I feel bad because I got him the job here in the first place, and I know he's good at it. But he's not one to stand for piss-takers, so he's gone. I did 270 hours last month, this month could see me working more. We're back down to a "team" of 6 and one is leaving Skye at the end of the month. Ready with replacements? Of course not. More walk outs? I fully expect so. Will this include me? Quite possibly, yeah. Do I care? Right now the truthful answer to that is 'no, I really don't'.
I have four batches of inverts that I collected last month and so far not a single specimen has made it onto a pin or card. I suspect a number of them will head straight into the bin, irretrievably shrivelled and brittle. My downtime consists of a nap between shifts, or maybe popping to the shops, followed by a can of beer at the end of the night and oblivion until the next day when I get to do it all over again. Today is still my day off, I just happened to return early. Already I've been asked to help cover tonight's shift. I refused. Not my problem, not my issue, not my responsibility to pick up the pieces. It's the first time I've said no. I have a feeling it won't be the last. See all those f*cks I used to give...
Seeing as you're here for the nature and not to listen to me whingeing on about my workplace, here are some pics from Dornoch yesterday. Trentham Hotel is just £40 for a room, an extra £5 if you want cooked breakfast and a pint of Guinness at the bar will set you back a fiver too. I highly recommend it if ever you're in the Dornoch area. Other drinks are (apparently) available. I don't know why.
Pure genius
Meadow Oat-grass Helictochloa pratensis
Meadow Oat-grass has a noticeably glaucous look to it, in fact in certain angles the leaves look decidedly silver. The flowerheads were just opening, it seems to be a little later flowering than the ubiquitous and non-glaucous Downy Oat-grass. Needless to say, the lower sheath is glabrous rather than downy.
Mystery plant which I accidentally pulled up
Note the revealed capsule is a swollen flask-shape and not straight-sided
This is Thyme-leaved Sandwort, a plant which I have seen before, but only infrequently. It catches me out every time. Happily, the fact that this plant had finished flowering and had formed seed capsules allowed me to confidently identify it as Thyme-leaved Sandwort and not Slender Sandwort. Maybe I'll actually recognise it the next time I see it! My attempt to pull off a single stalk resulted in the entire plant coming up, rather surprising considering its extensive root network. To be fair the soil was exceedingly friable. Apologies for the grimy fingernails, I'd been grubbing around earlier.
A very small Northern Marsh-orchid indeed!
Now then, I believe I have the rest of my day off to enjoy. Maybe a quick nap first, see if I can dream up a decent route up to Out Stack and back. Not sure which of these I prefer, the sublime original or the incredible kids who cover it. As ever, hope you enjoy!
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