Big numbers

Ringlet and Common Blue...Widdrington tip

Speckled wood and Vipers Bugloss...Old brickworks, Stobswood

Wood Vetch...Stobswood

Welted Thistle

Two out of focus moths...Old brickworks, Stobswood

Yesterday after the rain I went to Stobswood and Widdrington tip and as I entered the tip the first butterfly was a Small Heath, the first in sixteen years in this area, Sixteen years ago Speckled woods and Ringlets were not found around here but there were 6 Speckled woods and over 200 Ringlets. There was also 12 Common blues, 2 Large Skippers, 22 Meadow browns and a Painted Lady. Quite a few Moths kicked out of the grass but the two above I don't know what they are. Keeping up the big numbers I counted over 3100 Common Spotted Orchids within the confines of the old tip and this didn't include the many hybrids. At the brickworks I counted a record number of Viper's Bugloss with 940 plants. lots of birds around with 6 Sedge Warblers singing, 4 Buzzards (family group) and Redpolls with young were the best of the bunch. I could bore you further with the myriad species of grasses in flower at the moment.

Aultgowrie

Been offline for a couple of weeks, last week we were getting some building work done so the computer was taken upstairs out of the way of the dust and the week before this we had a pleasant stay in Aultgowrie, Easter Ross just off the Inverness to Ullapool road on the banks of the river Orrin.

Falls of Orrin...Aultgowrie

Ben Wyvis from Clash Wood

Hoof Fungus...Aultgowrie

Dwarf Cornel...An Cabar

Slow Worm in Clash Wood

Breezy and cold on top of Ben Wyvis

The weather was breezy but dry to begin with then but by the back end of the week it became uncomfortably warm and humid with temps reaching a high of 27. I tend to watch the ground more often than looking up to the sky these days so I was able to add a significant number of plants to my list as well as some fungi usually only found North of the border.
I saw plenty of the usual wildlife expected from this area but the highlight for me was coming across some clumps of Dwarf Cornel (Cornus suecica) on the steep slopes of An cabar on the way up Ben Wyvis. A plant that only occasionally flowers, the flowers are clustered in the centre and surrounded by four creamy bracts (not petals).