Adder Bonanza at Loch Cam

Not just one, not two, not even three, but FIVE adders on our walk yesterday at Loch Cam. It's taken me till this morning to recover sufficiently to write about it! The young are slithering around freely now, so no doubt this is a good time to adder watch if you're an enthusiast, which I'm not. Still, we also saw lots of other things as follows:

BIRDS: Raven, Buzzard, Meadow Pipit, Red-legged Partridge, Cormorant, Goldfinch, Song Thrush, Jackdaw, Pied Wagtail, Wheatear, Wood Pigeon

FLORA: Bell Heather, Heather, Cross-leaved Heath, Grass of Parnassus, Red Bartsia, Meadow Vetchling, Purple Loosestrife, Round-leaved Sundew, Milkwort, Meadowsweet, Creeping Thistle, Marsh Thistle, Spear Thistle, Bracken, Redshank, Self-heal, Water Lily, Water Mint, White Clover, Red Clover, Eyebright, Daisy, Mouse-ear Chickweed, Common Hawkbit, Common Ragwort, Jointed Rush, Pineapple Mayweed, Marsh Bedstraw, Marsh Willowherb, Harebell, Yarrow, Cuckoo Flower, Lesser Spearwort, Common Rush, Bog Pimpernel, Common Cottongrass, Devil's-bit Scabious, Bog Asphodel, Oak, Black Knapweed

INSECTS AND SPIDERS: Black Darter, Emerald Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Four-spotted Chaser, Golden-ringed Dragonfly, Common Darter, Small Copper, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Green-veined White, Meadow Brown, Dark Green Fritillary, Bombus lucorum, Bombus pascuorum, Oiceoptoma thoracium (Red-breasted Carrion beetle), Green Tiger Beetle, Carabus glabratus, Garden Spider, Fox Moth caterpillars (hundreds)

REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS: Common Toad, Common Frog, Adder

FUNGI AND LICHEN: Lichenomphalia umbellifera and lots of unknown species

Becky



Black Darter - Sympetrum danae

 

Garden spider - Araneus diadematus

Red-breasted Carrion beetle - Oiceoptoma thoracium

Common Toad - Bufo bufo

Adder - Vipera berus

Thaw is well under way

The thaw seems to be well under way this morning in Port Charlotte.  It is now extremely treacherous underfoot with ice under meltwater.  Nearly came to grief more than once on the way up to the chickens this morning.  This photo was actually taken near Loch Cam a few years ago during a previous cold snap.