Nature Notes from Argyll
(and occasionally other places)

Fri 13 May 2011 Inverawe

A showery day but if you stand and watch there are insects moving among the leaves, such as this sawfly that I think is Tenthredo ferruginea (confidence level low) and the attractive micro-moth Micropterix aureatella.
 

Female Scorpion-fly, Panorpa sp.

Phyllobius argentatus, a leaf weevil Tachycixius pilosus, a lacehopper Too dull for sharp photos of small things

The first Clouded Border of the year, I rather like this pic.

The final pic is not at Inverawe, but is within a few miles of Taynuilt.  It shows a few out of an incredible population of Birdsnest Orchids which I visited with the person who discovered it.  We counted 174 of this year's spikes and 68 dead spikes of the previous year (like the one on the right of the pic).  In my previous experience, when visiting a site known to have this species I would expect to find 0-3 spikes present.  This may be the largest population of them in Scotland.

Equally surprising was the fact that this population was in grassland with scattered trees of oak and birch.  I associate BNO's with the dense shade of beech or hazel, where there is little or no other ground vegetation. 

Sun 15 May 2011 South Shian

Another wet day but no complaints as we need lots of rain to restore water levels to normal.  Not many insects about apart from looper caterpillars on the trees.  These are both on birch; the one on the left is an Epirrita species - November Moth, Autumnal Moth or Pale November Moth - no way to tell which.  I haven't yet got anywhere with the one on the right, seen here on a birch twig against a card background.
 

This caterpillar on hazel is the Northern Winter Moth.  The hoverfly choosing to sit out in the rain is Eristalis pertinax.
 

A Mottled Umber larva on Rowan, and an adult of the micro-moth Eulia ministrana, which is a vice-county first though probably quite common really.

 

All photos and other content copyright © Carl Farmer