Job Vacany at INHT

Green Hairstreak and Oil Beetle

I'm always very excited about seeing my first Green Hairstreak and this was especially precious as it actually crawled onto my hand!!! As if this excitement was not enough, we also saw a species of Oil Beetle which is quite scarce. I await Crystal's id! Watch this space . . .
Becky

Green Hairstreak

Violet Oil Beetle

Violet Oil Beetle

Emperor Moth

Thanks to David Griffiths for sending us this spectacular photo of a male Emperor Moth, taken on the Walk Islay walk up Beinn Bheigier last week.
Becky

Emperor Moth - Saturnia pavonia

Sornasairidh from Ballachlaven

Lorna and I enjoyed a long walk in the spring sunshine across bog and tussocks and heather from Ballachlaven farm to the lovely ruin of Sornasairidh. It was 8 miles altogether and we saw 15 lizards, 4 ruins, 5 Golden Eagles, 1 Buzzard, 1 dun and 0 clouds!
Becky

Carabus glabratus

Clach an Tiompan

Cladonia sp

Drinker Moth caterpillar

Golden Eagles

Emperor Moth - female

Common Lizard

Red Deer hinds

Sornasairidh ruin

Serenity at Killinallan

The Sanderling was unfazed by our presence; the skies were serene; the Emperor Moth had got on with its emerging; the Marsh Fritillary Caterpillars were napping; the bees were humming; the larks were exalting - all was right with the Islay world!
Becky

Bombus pascuorum - Common Carder Bee

Freshly emerged female Emperor Moth - Saturnia pavonia

The beach at Killinallan, looking towards Gortantoid

Marsh Fritillary caterpillars (sadly with some parasitized)

Sanderling at Killinallan

Juniper Haircap Moss

A new moss for me (or rather one that I have positively identified!) The red 'flowers' are actually the male plants and the 'flowers' are modified leaves that form small terminal 'flowers' at the shoot ends.

Juniper Haircap Moss (Polytrichum juniperinum)

Purple Saxifrage and Marsh Fritillary Caterpillars

I tend to think spring is advancing when I see these tiny black creatures emerge from wherever they've been hiding all winter, make their way to the top of a plant shoot and bask in the warm sun. Little did I expect to see them twisting and turning their pin-sized heads this cold and breezy afternoon on our stroll on the Oa. But there they were - and lots of them. It was fantastic! As if that wasn't exciting enough, Jane spotted first one, then several clumps of brilliant lilac Purple Saxifrage adorning the cliffs. These amazingly coloured flowers know where to grow for safety, for nothing can graze them there! The ones I photographed were the only accessible ones! What a wonderful afternoon!
Becky

Marsh Fritillary caterpillars

Each black spot is a clump of caterpillars!

Purple Saxifrage

Purple Saxifrage on the cliffs on The Oa

Spring!!!

It's so exciting when you see your first caterpillar and beetle at the beginning of a new year. On various walks last week, Paul and I saw quite a few Drinker Moth caterpillars and this large chrysalis which we later identified as an Emperor Moth chrysalis. Why haven't I seen them before? The moth itself will emerge probably later this month. Of course lichens are here all year round, which makes them extra delightful, so I've included a sample of just some that we saw on our Islay travels!
Becky
PS The beetle got away photoless!

Drinker Moth caterpillar

Emperor Moth chrysalis

Cladonia floerkeana

Cladonia sp

Fuscidea cyathoides

Downy moss?

A bit more of spring

The daffodils in Bridgend Woods were shining pretty well yesterday even on a fairly dreich day.
Malcolm

A bad attack of measles!

A large field at Foreland was planted with young trees last year, a mixture of broadleaved and coniferous, as part of a carbon sequestration project. While the trees are small, they require weeding. This was initially done by hand and now a weed-retardant spray has been applied making the field appear as if it is suffering from a nasty disease!
Malcolm

More Fenceposts

Here is another set of enticing fenceposts on Duich Moss . . .

A Celebration of Fenceposts

What better way to celebrate the good news that the INHT can stay put, at least for another couple of years, than to post some posts?!! A few weeks ago I walked across the daunting terrain of Duich Moss and found - well, that it wasn't so daunting after all! Admittedly I didn't wander across to the pools in the centre, but it was still unchartered terrain (as far as I'm concerned anyway) and territory I'd coveted for many years. I wandered cautiously onto the Moss from the 'high' road near Torra and walked parallel to Islay's most beautiful fence (remember I've seen quite a few with which to make comparisons!) I must have photographed nearly every fencepost - each one exquisitely adorned with a bounty of lichen and moss. Here is the first set of photos.
Becky

And the Natural History Trust is........

........staying where it is!

The Trust's lease with the Scottish Youth Hostels Association (SYHA) for its Natural History Centre in Port Charlotte ended last summer. The very generous terms of £25/annum for 21 years has greatly helped the Trust over the years, but all good things come to an end, and although the SYHA were prepared for us to stay on for at least two more years, they wanted a much more realistic rent of £1000 a year. The Trustees and Committee reluctantly decided we could not afford this and so announced to our members that we would be closing the Centre and would continue to look for another building (which we have been doing for the last two years without success), or perhaps have a mobile centre - a trailer which could also be a classroom.

Anyway, last week, discussions took place with Bruichladdich Distillery who have offered to sponsor the Trust for a period of two years, thus enabling the Trust to continue to operate its Centre instead of having to pack up and leave. SYHA have agreed to draw up a new lease for the Trust covering the next two years, during which negotiations will take place between them and Bruichladdich Distillery.  The latter have some as yet unformed ideas about a public display area, possibly relating to the history of distillation on Islay, and/or possibly relating to The Botanist, the distillery’s Islay dry gin. The use of so many native Islay wild flowers in the gin makes an obvious synergy with the Trust’s work on displaying information about Islay’s fauna and flora and its maintenance of a database of natural history records. There is at this point no commitment by either party beyond the two-year sponsorship. 

The Natural History Trust are extremely grateful to Bruichladdich Distillery for their sponsorship. Details of this summer’s opening period and hours, and also of other activities, like natural history rambles and family activities, will appear in due course.

Persecution of raptors in Scotland

Please go here:
http://www.birdingodyssey.blogspot.co.uk/

And please read what Islay resident, John Armitage, has written in the last three days, and then sign the online petition.

Thank you.

Geese and my dog

I was trying to get my labrador to be as interested in geese as I am, but he was keener on the different smells in the field. The whitefronts (and one Barnacle) were not that bothered by him, nor by me in full view only about 30 yards away.
Malcolm

Snowdrops

That's better!
Malcolm

Spring is coming!

Or at least the snowdrops are coming out!
Malcolm

Lichens in the sun

We've not had many sunny days recently, but here is a lichen-covered willow positively glowing in the sunshine.
Malcolm

Wild flowers in 2013

After the usual start to the year with the carpets of snowdrops decorating Bridgend Woods, the cold spring delayed a great many flowering plants so that, when the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) held their annual Scottish recording week on the island for the first time, and had chosen the second week of June as a good time of year to come, it turned out to be probably about two weeks earlier than would have been optimal. However, whereas I usually require a flower to be fully out to help me identify it, the experts included in the visiting dozen botanists seemed just as happy with buds or even just leaves! Assisted by generally very good weather, planned visits to under-recorded parts of the island went very well and, later in the year, I was sent a spreadsheet containing a magnificent 7,949 records which represented an increase in total wild flower records for the island of just over 20%!
The highlights of the year were undoubtedly the orchids, most of which flowered in much greater abundance than usual, especially the Greater and Lesser Butterfly and the Marsh Helleborine. The very rare Narrow-leaved Helleborine also had one of its better years, with 15 spikes, the most since the small scattered colony was first found in 1998.
Malcolm

Pyramidal Orchid

Greater Butterfly Orchid

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

Marsh Helleborine

Narrow-leaved Helleborine