Nature Notes from Skye
(and occasionally other places)

Sun 4 Jul 2004

Allt nan Leac, south of Torrin.  Rain stopped play, but not before I got a few pictures.

Height of butterfly as seen c 18 mm

Two butterflies, the Meadow Brown, left, resting on the ground, and the Small Heath, right, a much closer view than the one we had on 25 May.

Wingspan as seen = c 2.6 cm

Moth c 2.2 cm long ex antennae

And two moths.  Left, the first Magpie Moth of the year, unmoving in the heather, presumably just emerged from its chrysalis.  Another two were seen close by, soon there will be thousands of them fluttering over the hillsides.  On the right, the 6-spot Burnet.

Flower c 12 mm long from calyx-base

Large flower near top c 17 mm across

Two flowers of alkaline flushes, the Pale Butterwort, left, and the Yellow Saxifrage, right.

Individual druplets c 4 mm long

Picture c 2.8 cm wide

And two fruits of limestone rocks.  The Stone Bramble, left, and the Juniper, right.  Both are unripe; the first will turn red and the second dark blue.

I also found some Lapland Marsh Orchid, like those in the 21 June pic.  They were not previously known from this area and have now been added to the record.

Stem c 6 mm wide leaf-tip to leaf-tip

Draagonfly estimated 8 cm long

Another frequent plant of damp limestone ledges is the Lesser Clubmoss, above left, showing its yellow spore-cases behind the upper leaves.  On the right, the Golden-ringed Dragonfly.  There were also several very large dark dragonflies skimming over the heather, but they never stopped to rest so I couldn't tell what kind they were.  (later: these will have been Common Hawkers)

c 4.5 cm across top two flowers

c 10 cm across whole plant

That was about it, then the rain set in, but just before I got to the car it stopped briefly and I took these pictures of Marsh Lousewort (left) and English Stonecrop (right).