Cup and Ring Marks - Kilchiaran

These strange marks on a stone slab situated close to the chapel at Kilchiaran are man-made.  Usually called 'cup and ring' marks, they are quite widespread in Argyll and other, broadly similar marks are found in many other places around the world.  They are usually given a Neolithic date, whiich would make them anything up to five thousand years old.  Precise dating is however, impossible.  Theories as to their purpose are entirely speculative.

Moss? Liverwort? Lichen?

I don't know what this is.  Fungi?  Liverwort?  Lichen?  On a branch near Dotty's Well.

Whin

Whin in Bruaich Jerich, Port Charlotte

Dotty's Well

Dotty's Well today.  The well is actually a concrete sleeve driven deep into the rock, actually a fault between the ancient gneiss and green sandstone, from which a spring emerges.  This provided the beautiful water supply to Port Charlotte until relatively recently.  When progress in the form of the current station intervened, the well was forgotten, by pretty much everyone except James Brown on whose land it resides.  He took me to it in 1997, while Bruichladdich was shut and long before the renaissance, but it had been covered by landslip.  I returned with a spade, and dug the hill back, finding the spring exactly where James said it would be.  The well itself was covered with a concrete slab, but digging the hill back and moving the slab had made the water muddy.  We returned again a few weeks later, with our families and some empty lemonade bottles.  The water was absolutely delicious.  When Bruichladdich opened again, they were looking for a source of great water...  Dotty passed every test the authorities asked of her, and now she has a nice little path down and a little shed to protect her.  It's still the same concrete sleeve though.  Still the same great water....

The Old Water Station - Port Charlotte

All that remains of the old 'Water Station' above Bruaich Jerich in Port Charlotte.  The new station is on the horizon. 
Water for this station used to be derived from 'Dotty's Well', which is now used to provide the water used by Bruichladdich
Distillery to 'let down' the whisky and gin before bottling.

Whirligig beetles - The Old Water Station - Port Charlotte

Scathophaga stercoraria - the Common Yellow Dung Fly

I wonder if I have got this one right?  The habitat from whence this individual came would suggest I might be correct for once....
Carl

Storm damage

Walking through Ballygrant Woods yesterday, we came across this amazing sight of a tree which has fallen between the two upright stems of another tree in the January hurricane. There are a great many other fallen trees there just as there are in Bridgend Woods.
Malcolm

Hedgehog - Alistair Hutchison

Alistair found this chap in a dazed and confused state in the middle of the afternoon, so gave him a bed for a while and a good feed before setting him on his way again....

Sandeels in Bowmore harbour

John Cameron reports seeing sandeels in Bowmore harbour - first of the year....  Thanks John...

Walk to An Cladach

I was getting so fed up of not having been out a long walk for what seems like ages to me, that I went out today, despite the drizzle and mist. I walked from Storakaig to An Cladach on the Sound of Islay. It was good, although the photos don't amount to much. I saw Golden Eagle, Raven, Skylark, Meadow and Rock Pipits, Chaffinch, Oystercatcher, Primrose, Scurvygrass, Milkwort and this, my first beetle of the year - a beautiful,  iridescent Dung Beetle.
Becky

Old concrete pier - Blackrock

Bridgend Merse

Loch Indaal from Port Bhan

Taken a couple of days ago on an HTC phone - no colour enhancement at all....

Mark French ploughing at Rockside Farm

Rab Smith ear tagging sheep

Rab Smith of Coille Farm adding electronic identity (EID) tags to his ewes.

Loch Indaal from Carnain

House Sparrows in action - James Deane

Cracking shot of two male House sparrows at a feeder - thanks James!

George Robertson

Lord George Robertson of Port Ellen showed some of his his fascinating photographic collection of Islays's cloudscapes and landscapes to a packed Centre last night.  Many thanks George....  Much appreciated...

Dawn over Loch Indaal this morning

This was taken on a phone camera - amazing what results you can get with them.  Carl