Last Sundays rAmble at Sanaigmore 12th June 2016
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| Germander Speedwell |
A dune walk, always a chance for a delight of colour.
Buttercup and Birds-foot Trefoil with the
wonderful bright blue of Germander Speedwell puncturing through the
yellow.
A number of mermaids purses
empty, dried and light as a feather scattered on the grass where they had been
blown from the shore.
Thrift in flower
and Lady's Bedstraw and Thyme just bursting forth with blooms that will be busy
for the next couple of months.
Around
the rocky outcrops and on the inland side Heather, wind pruned to a tight
cropped carpet was interspersed with Lousewort and the first spikes of Heath
Spotted Orchid, the dry weather of late had not suited the tiny Stonecrop with
one flower clinging to existence in a tiny pocket of soil in a rock crevice.
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| Heath Spotted Orchid |
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| Marsh Orchid? |
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| Marsh Cinquefoil |
The once wetter areas had Marsh Pennywort, Ragged Robin,
Marsh Marigold and Forget-me-not. The
wind was a bit brisk for butterflies but a nice Green-veined White obliged for
a photograph.
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| Green-veined White |
A large hawker dragonfly
zoomed past but wasn't for identifying and one of our party saw a Painted
Lady.
Painted Lady's are migratory
pushing up from the continent, I hear the weather in the south is wet so they
have bypassed the soggy places for sunny dry
Islay.
The small Common Gull colony had 5-6 chicks perched a top
the pebbles, with peeping Oystercatchers.
Good views of Ringed Plovers, Wheatear, we watched the Skylarks sing on
the way up and the meadow Pipits sing as they parachuted down.
A first and a highlight of the afternoon was a shrew, bold
as you like scurrying across the heather and into the longer grass.
Species:
Flowers: Birds-foot Trefoil; Thyme; Lady's bedstraw; Thrift;
Tormentil; Germander Speedwell; Marsh Cinquefoil; Ragged Robin; Forget-me-not
spp; Marsh Pennywort;
English Stonecrop; Heath Spotted Orchid; other hybrid
spotted orchid; Lousewort.
Birds: Oystercatcher; Ringed Plover; Wheatear; Meadow Pipit;
Skylark; Pied Wagtail; Common Gull, 5 Common gull chicks; Gannets
Birds heard: Snipe; Corncrake; Dunlin
Insects: Green-veined White; hawker dragonfly; Painted Lady
Mammal: Shrew
