West Coast Islands Blogs
Blogs (web logs) provide an ideal opportunity to explore the traditions, culture and wildlife of Wild Lochaber. We have put together a collection of local blogs and provide the titles and text snippets to give a taste of each entry with direct links to the main blog entry on the host website. We hope you will find time to explore the full articles and further information on the host blog sites.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions for blogs you would like to see here.
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles
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The weather has been almost uniformly wet and windy for weeks, but I managed to make the late-season return visit to a Raasay croft that I had promised. I added thirteen plants to my June list, including a couple that I must simply have failed to tick off before. The total now stands at 205. The...
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Joanna has been busy spotting aliens with the highlight being Erica ciliaris (Dorset Heath), new to Scotland – a garden escape in a Harlosh ditch. Erica ciliaris (Dorset Heath) Images: J. Walmisley In Portree, she has found Knautia arvensis (Field Scabious), new to VC104 apart from two...
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I have dealt with moths elsewhere, so here are a few other finds from July not already reported. Actually, a couple were in the first day or two of August, but who’s counting? Sawflies: I found Athalia circularis (Ringed Tigress) and one of the Tenthredo arcuata group at home, the latter...
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Joanna and Julian re-found Chaffweed (Lysimachia minima) in the 10 km square NG14, a SHARPP target and the first record there since 1971. I am told that it was present in profusion. Chaffweed (Lysimachia minima) Image: J Walmisley Neil has found Ervilia sylvatica (Wood Vetch) in NG41, the...
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I added fourteen to the July list for West Suisnish (home and immediate surroundings), two of which were completely new to the site: Lime-speck Pug (Eupithecia centaureata) and the micromoth Eucosma cana (Hoary Tortrix). Lime-speck Pug (Eupithecia centaureata) Eucosma cana (Hoary Tortrix...
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I went to see a single flowering plant of Galeopsis speciosa (Large-flowered Hemp-nettle) at Torrin – only the seventh record in the vice-county since 1995 – and in a nearby pond there were Nymphoides peltata (Fringed Water-lily) and Elodea nuttallii (Nuttall’s Waterweed), both...
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Joanna has found Dactylorhiza x venusta (D. fuchsii x purpurella) at Fiskavaig, a hybrid orchid with rather few records locally – though probably overlooked. Dactylorhiza x venusta Photo: J Walmisley I checked up on the Portree Epipactis helleborine (Broad-leaved Helleborine) and found...
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A visit to Hallaig on Raasay’s east coast yesterday with some of the family gave me these three records: Black-spotted Longhorn Beetle Rhagium mordax Sawfly: Strongylogaster multifasciata Argyresthia goedartella Brassy Y or Bronze Alder Moth We counted the spikes of Thyme...
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More or less as soon as I said no more moth traps in June a dryish night allowed a final try and I caught 25 moths including two new to my June list and one of the group of Minors that need expert determination. Also, on the last day of June, I caught a micro-moth in the garden which turned out to...
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I have covered some of these in previous posts, but my West Suisnish (home and immediate environs) list for June has increased by seven, five of which are additions to the total list – which now stands at 273. Three of the all-time additions are micros. I have adopted the vernacular names...
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In Loch Groidean on Raasay, I spotted these holes in Nymphaea alba (White Water-lily) leaves. Nymphaea alba (White Water-lily) leaves with added holes. The only thing I can think of is the larvae of Brown China Mark (Elophila nymphaeata) moths, which we have here and which cut part-circles...
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Two weeks have slipped by since I wrote anything here, but I have not been entirely idle. Nor have my botanical comrades. On the plant front, Joanna has added Vicia sativa subsp. segetalis (Common Vetch) to the vice-county flora with some plants at Kyleakin. Vicia sativa subsp. segetalis...
Marc Calhoun
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I have driven across the Lewis/Harris bridge many times over the past 30 years. The bridge, on the A859, links the two islands as it crosses over Abhainn a' Mhuil. Next to the highway bridge is the old bridge, which is no longer used for vehicle traffic. The last time I passed this way, I did...
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If you ever find yourself staying at the Rhenigidale Hostel, be sure to wander a mile up the west shore of Loch Seaforth to the deserted croft at Nostar (NB 226 033). To get there, you start by following the path that leaves the Rhenigidale road 150 feet SE of the hostel. If you are...
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A few spots are still available on our 10-day cruise out of Oban that departs on September 11. For details see the Hebridean Adventures website:https://www.hebrideanadventures.co.uk/products/adventures-in-search-of-the-past-cruise
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I've only had the pleasure of making the sands sing on three Scottish beaches: Camas Sgiotaig of Eigg (first photo), Traign Bhàn of Islay (second photo), and Camas an Lighe near Kentra Bay (third and fourth photos). Be careful if you walk across Camas an Lighe, as you may stumble upon...
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In May I was fortunate to go on a boat trip organized by John Humphries of the Gatliff Trust. I was even more fortunate in that it departed from the old jetty at Rhenigidale; possibly the first time in decades that a large group has used the jetty.As we waited for the boat to arrive, Widget came by...
Treshnish Farm
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We weren't showing the Herdwicks at Bunessan or Salen this year, but Farmer was helping Rhoda with her Blackface ewe lambs. And she came away with several rosettes and one of them, a Champion! The Salen Show is a friendly sociable event, a chance for the farming community to catch up...
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Sad news last week as Alice, the Cheviot lamb 8 year old Daughter adopted, and subsequently reared, died in her sleep. She was 15. We will all miss her. Having been bottle fed she was more friendly than most though she did mainly come when she thought there was food on offer....
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May and June are my favourite months of the year, as the wild flowers and particularly the orchids appear. There are 14 different species of Orchid on the farm. Some of them are very easy to find, and quite abundant. Others don't flower as regularly or nearly as abundantly. Those...
