May on the Isle of Skye
| 5 May 2017 . . . . First Orange-tip of the year | |
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| 6 May 2017 . . . . Down at Skinadin with Bob McMillan this morning and we saw or heard Blackcap, Whitethroat and Lesser Redpoll, as well as the ubiquitous Willow Warblers. | ||
 Common Whitethroat |
 Lesser Redpoll (copyright: Mark Medcalf) |
 Blackcap (copyright: Tony Hisgett) |
| 6 May 2017 . . . . Later on I was at Tarskavaig with the Broadford Botany Group, and found two species new to me and new for the tetrad. | ||
 Cerastium diffusum (Sea Mouse-ear) |
 Sagina subulata (Heath Pearlwort) |
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| 10 May 2017 . . . . Found two moths sat on the wall of the house this morning. Perhaps it was the full moon shining on it that attracted them. | ||
 Striped Twin-spot Carpet |
 Ruddy Highflyer |
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| 21 May 2017 . . . . The Broadford Botany Group had a wander around Lusa today.
The square was already well recorded with almost 200 species, but we managed to add 10 more, including a common plant that I'd never actually recorded before:
Sticky Mouse-ear. Not a new record, but always nice to see was the Common Vetch. I think all ours are the subspecies nigra. It is heterophyllous - the lower leaves are different from the upper leaves. |
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 Cerastium glomeratum |
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 Vicia sativa nigra |
 Vicia sativa nigra |
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| 22 May 2017 . . . . On our outing to Teangue last weekend, Tim spotted a few plants of the hybrid bluebell Hyacinthoides x massartiana. Today I spotted some more on the outskirts of Broadford. | ||
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| Hyacinthoides x massartiana | ||
| 23 May 2017 . . . . I've seen most of the orchids that grow on Skye, but one I hadn't seen was the Narrow-leaved Helleborine. I put that right today, visiting two locations and finding a couple of plants at each. | ||
 Cephalanthera longifolia |
 Cephalanthera longifolia |
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| 24 May 2017 . . . . Around 40 moths of 16 different species in and around the trap this morning. Here are some of them. | ||
 Nut-tree Tussock |
 Early Tooth-striped |
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 Grey Pine Carpet |
 Red Twin-spot Carpet |
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 Small Phoenix |
 Knot-grass |
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 Brimstone |
 Pale-shouldered Brocade |
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 Small Angle Shades |
 Flame Carpet |
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 Ruddy Highflyer |
 Scalloped Hazel |
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| 25 May 2017 . . . . Dalavil | ||
 Mother Shipton (First record for Skye!) |
 Barred Umber |
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| There were quite a few Small Heath butterflies around and I also caught a brief glimpse of my first fritillary of the year: | ||
 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary |
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| Saw three species of damselfly: Blue-tailed, Large Red and Beautiful Demoiselle and two species of dragonfly: Four-spotted Chaser and Keeled Skimmer. | ||
 Four-spotted Chaser |
 Blue-tailed Damselfly (immature male) |
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 Four-spotted Chaser |
 Four-spotted Chaser |
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 Four-spotted Chaser |
 Four-spotted Chaser |
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| 31 May 2017 . . . . Visited the Kingsburgh Community Woodland with the U3A Nature Group. It didn't look too promising, but we found quite a few interesting things. | ||
 Large Red Damselfly |
 Pedicia rivosa (a hairy-eyed cranefly) |
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 Newt |
 Golden-ringed Dragonfly |
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| This is likely to be the Palmate Newt (the Common Newt is very rare on Skye, though Colin reckons he has them in his garden!) | ||
| Before we'd even started the walk I spotted an unfamiliar plant which turned out to be Leopard's-bane, a plant not previously recorded north of Mull! |
 Doronicum pardalianches (Leopard's-bane) |