Mull Birds

During my recent tour of the west coast of Scotland, I spent an enjoyable six days on Mull. My list of birds for the sixteen days I was away numbered eighty, but the birds I saw on Mull were certainly the highlight.

In Tobermory harbour I found this Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix), feeding amongst the seaweed ...

Tobermory Harbour

At the Ulva ferry landing, I joined a small group of birdwatchers on a cruise to look for Sea Eagles on Loch na Keal.  Both the setting for the trip, and the weather, were perfect.

The view from Ulva towards Loch na Keal 

with Ben More (to the right) and surrounding mountains in the distance

Sea or White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) flying over Loch na Keal

From the boat I had good views of Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle), Great Northern Diver (Gavia immer) and Harbour Porpoise (Phocena phocena).  And though I wasn't able to visit Staffa during my stay on Mull, I did see these lava stacks, a south-shore feature of Ulva ...

While travelling along the southern coast of Mull, I found this Common Gull, nesting on the shore of Loch Spelve ...

Common Gull (Larus canus)

At Dervaig Bay, in the  north west of Mull, I found a large group of Greylag Geese feeding.

Greylag Geese (Anser anser)

Dervaig Bay

And finally, while visiting Iona, I was delighted to hear a Corncrake (Crex crex) in a field next to the abbey ...

Iona Abbey

Kinloch Hourn

I wonder how many times we pass the end of a road without giving a second thought to where it might lead or what delights we might find were we to follow it? The road to Kinloch Hourn proved to be such a road during my recent Scottish trip.

Turning off the Skye road beyond Invergarry, the road to Kinloch Hourn begins in a wooded lane which hugs the northern shore of Loch Garry for five or so miles to the hamlet of Tomdoun with its delightful little church. Five miles on, when you come to the tiny settlement of Kingie at the head of Loch Garry you are already in the wilderness and amongst the high hills of Glenquoich.

Glenquoich, the River Garry above Kingie and the Knoydart hills beyond
The views in all directions and the barren remoteness of Glenquoich revived long-unvisited memories of backpacking days in the Western Highlands more than twenty years ago. On this day, however, as I dawdled on along the single track road, taking in the splendour of it all, I could happily acknowledge that the road was more easily travelled from behind the steering wheel.

A Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) on the northern bank of the River Gary
In the 1950's, the glen was dammed beyond Kingie raising the waters of the existing Loch Quoich by one hundred feet: sadly, it suffers today from the same unnatural shape and scarred, low-water shore line of many other man-made lakes. On rocky rain-washed outcrops near the dam, I found many Common Butterwort (Pinguicala vulagaris). It was the first time I had seen these stickily hairy carnivorous perennials ...

Common Butterwort (Pinguicala vulagaris)
Other plants seen included these Lousewort (Pedicularis sylvatica) ...


... these Thyme-leaved Milkwort (Polygala serpyllifolia)


... and these fungi


The Red Deer, featured in my last piece, were found near the head of Loch Quoich. Further on still, the steep descent to the road end at Kinloch Hourn begins (the link to the Undiscovered Scotland pages provides further information and pictures). The settlement comprises one or two houses and a farm, the latter offering food and basic accommodation for hill walkers, climbers, cyclists and exploring motorists! A path along the southern shore of Loch Hourn takes walkers to Barrisdale and on into the Knoydart peninsula while another path along the northern shore, takes walkers to Arnisdale and Glen Elg.

Near the end of my journey and before the steep descent into Kinloch Hourn, at the foot of the dark hill to the left of centre in this picture, this view over Loch Coire Shubh opened up

Red Deer at Loch Quoich

Loch Quoich with the Knoydart hills beyond
At the western end of Loch Quoich, where the single track road rounds a headland near a burn called the Alt Nighean Eobhain, I came upon a small group of grazing Red Deer (Cervus elaphus).

I was struck at first that all of the deer in the group were stags until I read that for much of the year the stags and hinds lead separate lives, forming separate-sex herds. Male calves live with their mothers for a couple of years, but with the onset of maturity they leave to join male herds. This group were quite nervous of me but with care I was lucky enough to get close views and take the following pictures ...

A young stag with the steep slopes of Sgurr Mor, on the south side of Loch Quoich, in the background
Another of the group with Loch Quoich in the background

Common Seals at Loch Carron

This second piece describing my recent wildlife cruise on Loch Carron looks at Common Seals (Phoca vitulina).

Shortly after leaving Plockton on the Sula Mhor, we passed a small rocky island where a group of Common Seals were basking.


The Common Seal, referred to as the Harbour Seal in other parts of the world, is associated with sheltered seas and is widespread on the east coast of England and the coasts generally around Scotland and Ireland. They have a rather friendly-looking face and are little more than half the size of the Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) I more commonly see on the Farne Islands and at other locations along the Northumberland coast. They tend to be rather nervous and wary animals and in most circumstances are less inquisitive than their Grey cousins.



There are believed to be over 350 Common Seals resident in the Plockton area. You can see more picture pictures of Common Seals at Loch Carron on Callum Mackenzie's website

Common Dolphins at Loch Carron

After spending the first three months of 2011 decorating almost all of my house, and taking the time since to recover, I took myself off to Scotland for a short break last week to stay with my Invergarry friend at her home on the shores of Loch Oich. Sadly, as she is moving to the south of England in June, this was to be the last holiday I would spend with her in her Highland home.

On Wednesday we travelled to Plockton, to the north of the Kyle of Lochalsh, meeting another friend for lunch before taking a wildlife cruise on Loch Carron. The cruise turned out to be one of those never-to-be-forgotten moments.

A rather cold and damp Loch Carron seen from the departure point (cruise boat not shown in this picture)
Our cruise boat, the Sula Mhor, followed a course up Loch Carron towards a fish farm where Calum the captain told us we were almost certain to see the dolphins. We didn't but kept on cruising further up the loch towards Strome Ferry and beyond to Lochcarron village, hopeful but still without a view of them. The return trip, however, proved successful and the Loch's resident pair of female Common Dolphins (Delphinus delphis), known locally as Gin and Tonic, put on a great show for us.

Above and below: the Dolphins coming to the surface

And here, in this short video, the dolphins can be seen swimming at the bow of the Sula Mhor ...



If you are travelling in the Plockton area, do take one of Culum's cruises ...


See more here at Calum's Seal and Dolphin Trips website.

More of my Scotland trip in forthcoming posts.

Ben Lawers NNR

My journey home from my recent Scottish trip took me through Glen Coe and to the Ben Lawers NNR for a lunch break. Some years ago, I read about the alpine flora at Ben Lawers and I was interested to familiarise myself with the area with a view to possibly having a break there in the future.

The visitor centre was closed, which was disappointing, and I travelled on, up the mountain road beyond the centre to a damn where, to avoid the horizontal rain, I had my picnic lunch in the car. Near to where I was parked was this small clump of Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolio) ...


Later I parked near the visitor centre and had a short walk into part of the Reserve where I observed the following two species of lichen on a sapling. The first two pictures are of Physcia aipolia, the first 20mm in diameter, the second 20mm x 40mm. Both are young examples but have typical apothecia with their dark brown to black discs developing.



On the same tree, the following and again young, Toad lichen (Melanohalea exasperata), 20mm in diameter, well named in one sense, because I have been totally exasperated in trying to identify it and in another, because mature examples look like the skin of a toad. After posting my photographs to a Scottish Lichen group, experts have given me advice and positive identifications.


I have read recently that a tree might host as many as twenty different lichens. The picture confirms this to some extent, including the tiny crustose lichen Rinodina sophodes (top, and bottom left immediately under the M. exasperata), Xanthoria polycarpa (centre bottom under the M. exasperata), as well as a few immature lobes of a Physcia species, possibly the Physcia aipolia, as presented above.

Glenelg Lichens

When I visited Glenelg last November I was interested to observe the large number of lichens growing on the stones and amongst the mosses which cover the boundary walls surrounding the ancient brochs. I decided that when I returned, I would like to study these in greater detail.

I have to say that learning even a little about lichens has been an interesting experience. There was such an assortment at Glenelg that I probably missed many more than I photographed. I don't believe that any I've included are particularly rare and my attempts to indentify them were neither sophisticated nor very scientific; I tried my best to navigate a way through a key and compared my photographs with those in books or on the websites of experienced lichenologists. As ever, I am happy to hear from anyone who might identify them differently.

Throughout the region, trees were found covered in these Unsea filipendula, often hanging in lengths of up to five feet as in the right-hand picture:


The following is Peltigera membranacea, olive green above (top) with cream undersides (below) ...



These are two more of the Cladonia family, both no more than 20mm tall, the first Cladonia coniocraea, the second Cladonia squamosa ...



... while the following are two Ochrolechias, the first Ochrolechia parella, the second Ochrolechia tartarea ...



This last lichen has been the hardest to identify. The Scottish Lichen Group have told me that it is Lecidea lapicida ...


Finally, this fern. I should probably have been more rigorous, conducting an intimate examination, and I'm sorry I didn't. From my limited reference sources describing ferns I would say that it looks like a spleenwort, but I can't be sure so hopefully someone will tell me ...

... My thanks to Phil Gates, who has kindly suggested Polypodium, which is common throughout Britain on wall tops, as in this case, trees and rocks. The fronds are 10-40cm long, flat and oblong, with lobes more or less equal in size. Because of the location, this example would, I think, be Common Polypody (Polypodium vulgare)

Invergarry

The native pinewood at Invergarry is part of the larger Glengarry Forest and has been officially designated for protection and restoration. During my recent stay in the village, I enjoyed a short, late-afternoon walk which followed the riverside path through pleasant mixed woodland.

The River Garry, unseen to the right through the trees, is your constant companion when walking this woodland path
The walk begins at the Ciste dubh car park, situated on a narrow shelf of land just above the River Garry at a spot where it tumbles through a gorge en route to its meeting with nearby Loch Oich.


There was little bird life to be seen and I satisfied myself with looking for lichens on the path-side rocks and fallen trees. They included this tiny Cladonia floerkeana, 10-20mm tall ...

... this Cup Lichen (Cladonia chlorophaea)

... and this coral-like Sphaerophorus globosus

I also found this faded Turkey Tail fungus (Trametes versicolor) ...

Finally, I thought these lingering autumn-coloured beech leaves (Fagus sylvatica) deserved a mention ...


I await a new fifth edition of Lichens: An Illustrated Guide to the British and Irish Species by Frank Dobson. In the meantime I used Roger Phillips' Grasses, Ferns, Mosses and Lichens of Great Britain and Ireland for my lichen identifications. If any reader wishes to make a correction, please do so.

The Pictures to 'A Perfect Highland Day'

The first set of pictures from my recent trip to the west coast of Scotland highlights the splendid highland scenery seen during my day in Glenelg.

The view across Loch Loyne towards the snow-capped Beinn Loinne (right, behind the spur) and the long ridge of Druim nan Cnamh to the south of Loch Cluanie
Looking across Loch Hourn, near Arnisdale, towards Barrisdale Bay and the Knoydart mountains
An atmospheric view of Eigg at the entrance to the Sound of Sleat
A Feral Goat kid (Capra hircus) seen in road-side undergrowth in Glen Shiel
A Red Deer hind (Cervus elaphus) seen near the road in Glen Shiel