Got the butterfly bug!

This has been a great week of sunshine so I have made a few trips to look for butterfiles. The first was to Ballachuan Hazel Woods (The SWT reserve on Seil that we look across the Sound to) where the first Marsh Fritillaries are active now. There were also quite a few Painted Ladies passing through ... the migration has reached this far north in the last week and they are quite a sight as they flap past. No luck with the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk Moths that I was really hoping to see, but I will try again here next week.

On tuesday I headed up to Glasdrum Nature Reserve (near Loch Creran) home to the rare Chequered Skipper. They are only found around the Fort William area and have been extinct in England since 1976. There were quite a few to be seen in the sunny clearings in the wood and it was interesting to see the variations in their markings when they landed. They will be around for another few weeks and are well worth seeing.

Moths

This has turned into a month of moths .... earlier this month Phil and Kate from Liverpool (guests at the caravan site) bought a moth trap with them and set it up one night on the site. Unfortunately it wasn't the best of weather but they still had a few finds. The main moth species found was Hebrew character (Orthosia gothica) plus there were also a Water Carpet, a Brown Silver-line and a (99% certain) Common Quaker. A more bizarre find was a parasitic wasp (shown here). (Thanks Phil and Kate ... looking forward to seeing you again soon!)


A couple of weeks ago I attended a number of events during Mull and Iona Wildlife Week. I can highly recommend the weeks activities as there is a huge range of talks, tours and workshops that will have something to amuse everyone! One of the talks I attended was by Dr Tom Proctor of Butterfly Conservation Scotland, followed by moth trapping at Duart Castle. The talk was so lively and well illustrated that it left us all keen to get out there spotting moths and butterflies.

One of the species mentioned in the talk was the Narrow-bordered bee hawk moth which is declining across the UK but still present in a small number of sites in Scotland. It seems that there are some at Ballachuan Nature Reserve on Seil (on the opposite side of Cuan Sound to the site) so I am planning to go there on the next sunny morning. As their name suggests they resemble a bee, even down to having transparent wings and buzzing! There is a leaflet about this species and many others on the Butterfly Conservation Scotland website.

Buzzing with life

Spring is in full flow here on the island. As I write there is a cuckoo calling from the trees behind the house .... normally we only here them from Ballachuan Nature Reserve on the other side of the Sound.

I walked the dog along the Dubh Leathad yesterday (the road that runs down the middle of the island) and it was smothered with wild flowers. I decided to take a photo of every species that was in flower along a 200m length, and the result is here! This is one of the few sections of the island that isn't grazed and has been fenced. Most of the trees currently are birch and willow, and now there are a few rowans, hazel and oak seedlings coming up as well, which is a good sign.

The flowers shown are blaeberry, stitchwort, dandelion, bluebell, grass, wood anenome, cuckoo flower, red campion, celendine, violet, wood sorrel and primrose. I'm afraid I am no good at grasses .... but maybe someone out there is and can ID it for me!

Lichen hunting

I have been trying to keep my very meagre wildlife identifying skills up to date, and had planned to concentrate on lichens over the winter. As we live in an area with little or no pollution there are a great number of different species in the area, and Ballachuan Hazelwood on Seil is particularly well known for its rare species.

I am very lucky to know the botanical recorder for Argyll, Carl Farmer, and have enjoyed some excellent days out with him looking for plants, lichens and mosses. Some of his knowledge is starting to filter in to me but it is such a slow process as there is so much to learn. We recently explored the hazel woods on Luing which are confined to the few steep slopes and fenced areas that the sheep and cows can't graze. There was a good selection of species ... including a very small patch of Haze Gloves. These are an indicator of ancient woodland and we were very pleased to find them here on Luing.

As I stupidly didn't take my camera on our walk I decided to go back a week later to see how many of the species I could remember, and the photos along the side are the result! Of course the one species I couldn't refind was the Hazel Gloves, so I will have to try harder next time!

Lobaria pulmonaria is very leafy looking, with a vague resemblance to lung tissue. It is dark green when wet and pale greenish brown when dry and it was used in the past to treat lung diseases, hence the latin name.

Lobaria virens forms a leafy crust on branches has such a rich green colour that it looks almost fake!

Graphis scripta is so named because the black markings on the white background resemble pencil marks. In the picture there are other similar lichens forming a mosaic over the surface of the branch.

Hymenochaete corrugata (Glue Fungus) is so called because it glues dead hazel twigs to living branches in the canopy, thus preventing them from falling to the ground where they would be available to other fungi to decompose. They are so unlike any other fungus I have seen that it took me a while to start seeing them, but once I has worked out what they were it was easy to find plenty of them. They look just like a blob of tar, or black chewing gum that has been used to stick two twigs together!

An easy way to start identifying lichens is using the Field Studies Council fold out laminated guides. They publish a wide range of these guides which are available from their own website. As they only cost £3-4 they are well worth getting!

Out of hibernation!

It has been ages since I have added any news here .... not because there has been nothing going on but because it has been so busy! We often get asked by guests "what do you do in the winter?" and our answer is normally to laugh and say "loads!" So over the next few posts I will try to give a brief run-down of what we find to fill our time:

Mike has been busy working on Seil with David Ainsley of SeaLife Adventures on his new pontoon. Many guests have been out for the day with David on his boat Porpoise to see the wildlife in the area and Mike and I sometimes get to crew for him in the spring and autumn. The great news is that David now has his own pontoon and carpark on Seil, making access to the boat so much easier. It has taken a lot of very cold days in drysuits over the winter, but now the pontoon is finally in place and trees and shrubs are being planted to soften the look of the carpark.

help needed!

After much dithering (and prodding from guests!) we have decided that it is time to name the caravans. There have been many suggestions in the past for names. with local islands or species of wildlife being the main suggestions. We would love to hear what you think - and your ideas for particular vans, so over to you!

That shy and elusive creature, the otter!

After a week of sightings of the otter cubs by Mike while out walking the dog, he decided to take the camera with him today .... with great results! This time it was the turn of the mother to make an appearance, and Mike was able to watch her fishing and exploring around the boats at the pontoon. She was aware of him and looked up occasionally(even though he was doing his best to remain hidden!) but carried on as before and slowly worked her way along the shore.

It is nice to see her looking so relaxed, especially with young cubs which presumably were hiding away somewhere. Maybe we should tell her that otters are supposed to be shy, nocturnal creatures!