April on the Isle of Skye

13 April 2020 Cold weather and a lot of rain has meant that there have been very few insects around until now. Things are at last starting to appear, albeit over a week later than last year. My first hoverfly (seen yesterday) was Eristalis pertinax and today I had the other common early season species - Platycheirus albimanus. I am currently restricted in where I can go by the coronovirus pandemic, so most of my outings will be to Skinadin (where these photographs were taken).
Phyllobium piri	Bibio lanigerus
Andrena ruficrus?	Stonefly (Nemouridae)

16 April 2020 I find Gorse quite disappointing in terms of invertebrates, but a bush at Skinadin did yield this shieldbug.

Gorse Shieldbug

16 April 2020 We have several species of Geranium growing wild on Skye. This is one of the rarer ones, found in a new location at Breakish.

Shining Crane's-bill (Geranium lucidum)

25 April 2020 I was wandering through Broadford and spotted this on a wall by the Broadford Hotel. Common Scurvygrass is very widespread around our shores, but this is a plant of motorway verges.

Danish Scurvygrass (Cochlearia danica)

30 April 2020 Seen lots of Peacocks and a few Green-veined Whites, but nothing else until today.

Orange-tip