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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A couple of days ago, this mayfly settled on my watch in the garden – we are not very far from the Arish Burn. It is probably Baetis rhodani. (Thanks, Craig.) Baetis cf rhodani A short-palped cranefly was determined as Dicranomyia chorea. (Thanks, Ryan) Dicranomyia chorea and I can add...
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The range of moth species coming to the trap is increasing. A few days ago there were two resplendent Early Thorns. Early Thorn I have looked at some small insects in the past two days. Rosemary picked some broom from the garden to bring indoors Cytisus scoparius cultivar and found it contained...
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I think this is the way forward for naming my posts as I am pretty much confined to my house and garden. In my last post I forgot to mention Luzula campestris (Field Wood-rush) amongst the flowering weeds: Luzula campestris (Field Wood-rush) and now I can add Veronica peregrina (American Speedwell...
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Ten days ago I saw my first social wasp of the year, a queen Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) like this one from a few days ago that posed rather better: Vespula vulgaris Now there are large numbers of workers pollinating our gooseberries. Gooseberry flower Weeds in the garden that are flowering...
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BSBI is running a Garden Wildflower Hunt to offer botanical recorders, wildlife enthusiasts and the general public a chance to improve/ practice their plant identification skills while at home. BSBI says, “We hope to gather data which will help us understand more about the distribution,...
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Soon, I shall write something about plants, given the title of this blog. Meanwhile here is a Square-spot Rustic larva from leaf litter below the Blackcurrants: Square-spot Rustic Larva Two Hebrew Character moths from the moth trap: Hebrew Character x2 I get lots of these looking like the right-...
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The moth trap yielded just two moths the night before last, but one was a species I haven’t had before: Yellow Horned Moth. Yellow Horned Moth The other was a Red Sword-grass and I also caught a gnat that is Sylvicola probably S. cinctus: Sylvicola cf. cinctus and a crane-fly, Tipula rufina...
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A few years ago I wrote a short note about Sex Change in Trees. Today I have spotted another example of environmental sex determination, this time in Acer pensylvanicum (Striped Maple). Apparently, these trees increasingly flower as females as their health deteriorates. A recent paper looking at...
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Recent days have been fine and sunny so I have spent a lot of time gardening. More digging and tidying have resulted in several more caterpillars but they have looked too difficult to identify for me to try. A single click beetle larva (wireworm) in one of the vegetable beds does not concern me ...
Treshnish Farm
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Lambing 2020 is in full swing!We started off with 65 Cheviot and Zwartble ewes in the old cattle shed, who were all expecting twins. There are now only 11 left to lamb. Having the ewes indoors means that you can check them late at night and pen up any who need a bit of attention and...
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A low tide late afternoon on Easter Monday. Down by the Ensay burn mouth.
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We could never have foreseen that as our main season started, instead of opening up to welcome our guests we would be in this situation of being locked down, and unable to receive anyone. We are very aware of how lucky we are to live here but during this horrendous pandemic we are even more...
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A dry calm spell of weather recently has meant I was able to get the drone up in the air. The woodland 'garden' planted in the 1930s has suffered a lot in recent years from storm damage, with lots of trees and shrubs being felled by high winds and often sadly obliterating beautiful shrubs as...
Marc Calhoun
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I was supposed to be on Mingulay today, 4500 miles from Seattle. It's been 16 years since I was last there, a long absence from an island that likes to be visited so much. There will be no one on Mingulay this year to hear the selkies sing, no lasses (or lads) for the each-uisge to woo, and no...
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Let's jump back exactly ten years in time . . .It was the morning of April 18, 2010. I woke to find a dusting of ash coating the deck of Hjalmar Bjorge. The skies, too, were a dusty gray. Eyjafjallajökull had blown her top four days before. Air traffic was at a standstill. And as I strolled around...
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Like so many around the globe my wife and I are stuck at home. The hardest part for me is that I am not allowed to visit my 97-year-old father. I had not seen him for a month when, yesterday, he had a dental emergency. I was allowed to take him to the dentist to get a tooth pulled. It was good...
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No visit to Barra is complete without a hike over the tops. Many visitors are happy just climbing Heabhal, at nearly 1300 feet the summit of Barra. Aside from the view, the highlight of the climb is spending some time with Our Lady, Star of the Sea.Standing there, high atop Barra, you can...
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My encounters with midges over the years has finally paid off. I am launching The Midge-Master, soon to be on the top-ten list of essentials for all island baggers. It is a midge hat with five hi-speed fans that keep the bugs at bay. It's great fun to wear, especially if you are camping with others...
wondering wanderers
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My food growing adventures started back in 2008 when we got to the top of the very long waiting list for an allotment from our local council. Davies, Scarlett and I went to the office, signed the paperwork, paid our first years rent (About £50 if I recall correctly) and collected the key to the...
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I’m reading a book at the moment. It’s lovely, beautifully written and filled with joys and sorrows. It’s a story of ordinary people and their ordinary lives, and deaths – both similar to and utterly different to every single story every one of us has to tell / is living...
