Nature Notes from Argyll
(and occasionally other places)

Tue 15 Jun 2010 Glencoe

A bunch of us went to look for the Lapland Marsh Orchid which was discovered in the Glencoe area last year by Keith Cunningham and Chris Irvine, the first ever record for the vice-county.  These two are not it.  The first, which had unspotted leaves, may be the hybrid between Common Spotted and Northern Marsh orchids, and the second, which had a few leaf spots, may be Common Spotted x Heath Spotted.  I'll get round to sending these pics to the orchid referee at some point.
 

We eventually found the Lapland Marsh Orchid, that's it on the left with big blotches on the leaves.  The pic on the right is possibly a hybrid of Lapland Marsh with something else.
 

Fri 18 Jun 2010 Stronmilchan

There were old records here for two plants I'd never seen in my life: Tall Bog Sedge and Spignel.  A survey of the latter was required for the BSBI Threatened Plants Project.  To my delight we found both.  Here they are.
 

Found this Garden Chafer beetle on Purple Moor Grass.  It is in situ but with a hand in the background.
 

The gall of Rhopalomyia ptarmicae in the shoot tip of Sneezewort.  This has caused the leaves below the tip to become broader than usual, and long side shoots to sprout out from just below them.
 

Male and female Drinker Moths, showing their elaborate antennae.  They were deep down in the vegetation and had seemingly just finished mating.  The caterpillars are very common but you don't often see the adults.
 

We found some Eyelash Fungus (Scutellinia sp) growing on wet peat.  Here is one of them through the microscope.  I couldn't identify it to species as it wouldn't release any spores.  In the asci the spores were up to 22.7 x 15 mu but any ornamentation was hard to make out, probably because the spores were immature.

 

All photos and other content copyright © Carl Farmer