Swaddywell Pit

A lunchtime lepidoptera and odonata spree with Mother Shipton the undoubted highlight for Weedon's World of Nature and me.

Mother Shipton (Callistege mi)


Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica)


Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus)


Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)


The Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae)


Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata)


Crambus lathoniellus


Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella)



Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula)


Scorpion Fly (Panorpa sp.)


Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)



Nikon CP995

The Ardnamurchan Blog

The Arnamurchan blogs are arranged chronologically here.

Spotted in the Rain
Of Whinchats and Woolly Bears
First night's moths
Coldstream and Ockle
Second night's moths
Coldstream and Sanna (no pics)
The Achosnich Woodland Walk
Ardnamurchan Sunset
Third night's moths
Fourth night's moths
Ballamory and Minke Whale (no pics)
Final night's mothing
Saturday
What a farewell

What a farewell

The long journey home necessitated an early start so the scope had to unpacked when I noticed a large "something" cruising through the waters below the cottage. It turned out to be my first Basking Sharks: a full sized one and one rather smaller individual. Great scope views of the second largest fish in the world: the large dorsal fin moving smoothly through the water apparently chased from side to side by an erratic smaller brother. The digiscoped picture is a montage of two shots of the larger fish.

Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus)

Nikon CP995 + Leica APO77 + 20xWW

Saturday

Again there were many rafts of Manx Shearwaters and other seabirds in the Sound, an Arctic Tern and a Fulmar passed by and a couple of Harbour Porpoise and a Grey Seal completed the picture. The beetle shown was found in the garden.

Rhagium bifasciatum (a longhorn beetle)


Nikon CP995

Final night's mothing

After a break of one night I put the trap out for the last time on the penultimate night of our stay. The Yellow-ringed Carpet was the best of the bunch but it was nice to see another couple of Fox Moths. Unfortunately there were only a couple of wings left of my first Lunar Thorn.

1638 Fox Moth (Macroglossum rubi), 2
1722 Flame Carpet (Xanthorhoe designata), 1
1743 Yellow-ringed Carpet (Entephria flavicinctata), 1
1776 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria), 1
1902 Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata), 1
1918 Lunar Thorn (Selenia lunularia), 1
2011 Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina), 1
2060 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda), 2
2250 Dark Brocade (Blepharita adusta), 2
2289 Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis), 3
2302 Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea), 1
2334 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens), 1

Flame Carpet (Xanthorhoe designata)


Yellow-ringed Carpet (Entephria flavicinctata)


Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina)


White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)


Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis)


Brown Rustic (Rusina ferruginea)


Nikon CP995

Ballamory and Minke Whale

Friday saw us heading off to the Isle of Mull. The ferry journeys between Kilchoan and Tobermory were fairly uneventful with a feeding party of Gannet and auks in the channel and 8 Eider and a Black Guillemot in Tobermory harbour. The woodland walk to Aros Park was also fairly quiet with a Spotted Flycatcher at the waterfall the highlight. As the sun came out in the early afternoon and Peregrine and Common Buzzard appeared above the town. Red-throated Diver and Common Sandpiper showed back at Kilchoan harbour.

The best sight of the week awaited us back at Coldstream Cottage as a spot of seawatching revealed a large cetacean sufacing with a slow flat roll showing a small dorsal fin. The large rafts of Manx Shearwaters lingering offshore were soon forgotten. Surely this was a rorqual whale! The Minke Whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) showed off and on from 17:30-22:30 often close in to the shore. The slow shallow roll was in stark contrast to the other smaller cetaceans I have seen. There was no blow visible but it occasionally lifted its head sllightly from the water before a roll. The porpoise-like fin was set well back on the body but the tail was never seen above the water.

While watching the whale a presumed Bottle-nosed Dolphin surfaced far out and a Harbour Porpoise was around later in the evening.

Fourth night's moths

Although it was raining throughout much of the next two days the nights were good for moths and some more interesting species turned up, like the heathland-dwelling Grey Scalloped Bar.

1638 Fox Moth (Macroglossum rubi), 1
1722 Flame Carpet (Xanthorhoe designata), 1
1724x Red/Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia/ferrugata), 2
1769 Spruce Carpet (Thera britannica), 1
1776 Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria), 1
1834 Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata), 1
1902 Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata), 2
1969 Grey Scalloped Bar (Dyscia fagaria), 1
2060 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda), 2
2102 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta), 1
2163 Broom Moth (Melanchra pisi), 4
2250 Dark Brocade (Blepharita adusta), 3
2334 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens), 3
2450 The Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita), 1

Fox Moth (Macroglossum rubi)


Red/Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet (Xanthorhoe spadicearia/ferrugata)


Spruce Carpet (Thera britannica)


Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria)


Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata)


Grey Scalloped Bar (Dyscia fagaria)


White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)


Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta)


Broom Moth (Melanchra pisi)


Dark Brocade (Blepharita adusta)


Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens)

The Spectacle (Abrostola tripartita)

Nikon CP995

Third night's moths

Third night trapping on Ardnamurchan and warmer conditions encouraged more moths to emerge including one of the top five animals of the week - The Saxon.

1638 Fox Moth (Macroglossum rubi), 1 female (making a different female each of the three nights)
1768 Grey Pine Carpet (Thera obeliscata), 3
1902 Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata), 1
1981 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi), 2
2060 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda), 1
2163 Broom Moth (Melanchra pisi), 2
2250 Dark Brocade (Blepharita adusta), 6
2289 Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis), 1
2320 The Saxon (Hyppa rectilinea), 1

The Saxon (Hyppa rectilinea)


Grey Pine Carpet (Thera obeliscata)


White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)


Broom Moth (Melanchra pisi)


Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis)


Nikon CP995

Ardnamurchan Sunset

The sunsets on Ardnamurchan are legendary. We experienced just one outstanding display on Monday night. The highest hills in the background are on Rum, with Eigg in front and right. The dark foreground is the mainland. Click on the picture for a super-sized image.


Nikon CP995

The Achosnich Woodland Walk

One of the highlights of the holiday was a walk around the woodland and heather and bog myrtle moorland just south of Achosnich. As well as those shown here we had Twite singing, many Large Red Damselflies (Pyrrhosoma nymphula), Small Heath butterfly (Coenonympha pamphilus), Brown Silver-line (Petrophora chlorosata), Green Carpet (Colostygia pectinataria) and Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris). The flowers were spectacular with many Primroses, Bluebells, Violets, etc. and even a few Lesser Cellendine still flowering. Spring certainly comes late to this part of the world.

The Lizard was a good find and there was also a glimpse of another reptile, which we think was a Slow Worm (Anguis fragilis).

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (Boloria selene)


Common Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris)



Argyotaenia ljungiella


Common Heath (Ematurga atomaria)


Common Lizard (Lacerta vivipera)


Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata)


Micropterix aureatella on Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella)



Nikon CP995

Coldstream and Sanna

Tuesday morning saw Harbour Porpoise again in the Sound from Coldstream Cottage, along with a few Manx Shearwaters which arrived along with many auks, gulls and Shags, but only a few Gannets, to a small feeding frenzy just off-shore, which lasted about 15 minutes. It was interesting to see five Twite flying around the cottage calling in the morning. Later in the afternoon at least three Harbour Porpoise were close inshore with two Grey Seals not far away, Common Gulls, Kittiwakes and three Dunlin passed by and a summer plumaged Great Northern Diver lingered a little way out. Several Black Guillemot were close to the shore.

A trip to the unbelievably beautiful beach at Sanna revealed a good number of Wheatears along the way, several Sand Martins nesting in 'cliffs' in the dunes, two male Eider in the bay, a Common Tern and three Grey Seals.

Common Buzzards were surprisingly few and far between for the whole week and just one today was typical.

Second night's moths

Another small small band of moths to the 125W MV Skinner trap:

1638 Fox Moth (Macroglossum rubi), 1 female (different from previous night)
2060 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda), 1
2147 The Shears (Hada plebeja), 1
2216 The Shark (Cucullia umbratica), 1
2250 Dark Brocade (Blepharita adusta), 1
2326 Clouded-bordered Brindle (Apamea crenata), 1
2334 Rustic Shoulder-knot (Apamea sordens), 1

Fox Moth (Macroglossum rubi)


The Shears (Hada plebeja)


The Shark (Cucullia umbratica)



Nikon CP995