Nature Notes from Skye
(and occasionally other places)

Sat 30 Jul 2005 Portree

Picture c 5.3 cm wide

Picture c 5.7 cm wide

An aphid gall on Wych Elm.  Almost certainly Eriosoma ulmi, but can't rule out E grossulariae.

Sun 31 Jul 2003 Varragill estuary

This leaf spot on Valerian (above right) may be Ramularia valerianae.  The flowers in the picture are Northern Bedstraw.

Largest flowers c 4 mm across

Flowerhead c 5 cm across

Here is some more Northern Bedstraw, with the 4-whorled, 3-veined leaves showing in the bottom left.  It was a bit windy for taking flower pictures but it's about time we had some so here's a Melancholy Thistle.

Largest flowers c 6 mm across

Top fl c 13 mm long from calyx-base

American Willowherb is a fast-spreading alien in the environs of Portree.  Marsh Willowherb is native and very much at home in wet rushy places.

LH flower c 12 mm across

Head c 2.7 cm across at widest

I thought I knew every inch of this area, but today I found two patches of Knotted Pearlwort, above left, which I'd never seen before here.  I don't know whether I'd overlooked it in the past or whether it has just moved in.  On the right are the fruiting heads of Kidney Vetch.

There were over 100 Curlew on the shore.  The Small Tortoiseshell and Scotch Argus butterflies are very plentiful at the moment.