Ben Lawers

Having done a recce, see earlier post - Meall Corranaich - and then a "training" run, going up Carn Chois where I found what is apparently the fourth record for Scotland (NBN) of Gasterophilus intestinalis  Horse Bot Fly sitting on the trig point.

Gasterophilus intestinalis

A "training" run that had nearly done for us as we had seriously under-estimated the distance, steepness and sun exposure that would be encountered. This due to the Carn being a "close" hill we can see from the house, and so had somewhat underestimated its difficulty, particularly as we went at it from Glen Lednock and not the shorter and more sensible route from Glen Turret.

Carn Chois

A Euphrasia sp, the flowers are very small and this one only seems to grow quite high, c 600m. I'm wondering if it is identifiable.

 There were lots of butterflies, including many Dark Green Fritillary and higher up Small Heath.

Dark Green Fritillary

 Irritatingly this plant, a potential P-SL tick, could not be identified as I did not know I needed to look at the fruits and seeds.

Melilot, either Melilotus officianalis or M. altissimus. I might go back later today and check it. I need to get the colour of the seeds amongst other things - Stace (I now have a copy) says I need to measure the fruits and see if they are hairy or not, count the seeds, note the seed colour and compare the keel and the wings (equal or shorter). Botany is hard! (Fruit hairy, two seeds, pod 6.5mm = M. altissimus)

Botany is even harder when the target species are near the top of the 10th highest Munro. However, this is easier than Carn Chois as you can drive to a car park quite high up, and nowhere is the path really steep, provided you avoid the Beinn Ghlas route.

The now dried up pool at the col.

The pool at the col that was so full of life last time is now bereft of water. Car park to col 1 hour if you get a bit of move on.

On the way to the col I managed to pause long enough to pick up a Carabus glabratus, a species I'd not seen previously.

Carabus glabratus

From the col you circumvent Beinn Ghlas, the paths are a bit rough initially but the views are spectacular.

Looking in to Glen Lyon (I think)

An Stuc in the distance and Ben Lawers. The target area is the rocky outcrop below the summit of Ben Lawers.

90 minutes to get to the botany area. I was in a bit of a rush as the team had gone off to do another Munro or two whilst I botanised. This gave me less than the optimal amount of time.

As you go up you start to notice a few interesting plants, Mossy Saxifrage and Alpine Mouse-ear can be found along the path. The usual Alchemilla conundrums are frequently encountered and whilst I did take a specimen or two (which all proved to be glabra) I was largely ignoring these despite the potential of two or three P-SL ticks.  

Mossy Saxifrage Saxifraga hypnoides - I don't think there is a hybridisation issue at this site.

Alpine Mouse-ear Ceratium alpinum can also be found along the path 

Once at the spot I quickly came across Alpine Lady-fern. I'm pretty confident this is ok. From what I understand a bit early in the year for getting all the features on these but Obsi was happy and my fern book seems to indicate I'm on safe enough ground. It's always a bit of a call with taxa that are somewhat alien to me. Never all that keen on ferns and fungi in particular, or bees for that matter.

Alpine lady-fern Athyrium distentifolium

Habitat shot, plant community on schist, an alkali substrate I believe. The taller bushy stuff is Roseroot Rhodiola rosea

 The three standout plants for me were Arctic Gentian (I took lots of photos), Arctic Forget-me-not, I just managed to find one flowering, and Net-leaved Willow, which I was shown, otherwise I suspect I might have missed it. An hour was just not long enough and I'm hoping to go back on a more leisurely schedule later this week.

I was very fortunate in that a real botanist arrived at the site shortly after me and showed me a few things. However, I did find my own gentians, they are tiny! And for the Arctic Forget-me-not I found two, one of which had a single flower remaining. Follows a lot of images!

Alpine Forget-me-not Myosotis alpestris

 

Net-leaved Willow Salix reticulata

Alpine Gentian Gentiana nivalis, habitat, there are two in the image.

 

Alpine Gentian Gentiana nivalis, a very tiny plant

The hour shot by and all too soon I had to leave, indeed I cut it a bit fine and ended up half running down the hill.

Somewhat knackered the next day. 

Splash!

It's usually the first sign you have stumbled by a Beaver. The splash is I think a warning to others of its clan made by slapping its tail on the water surface, and then it dives. If you are lucky it will re-appear on the surface shortly, but sometimes that's all you'll get and it will disappear.

Spot the Beaver!

For a large animal Beaver can be very hard to see. This one had done the tail slap and it took me a good ten minutes to re-locate it, statue-like in the shallows. It did eventually show off by having a bit of a swim around in front of us.

Beaver Castor fiber

We went back yesterday as Louise was keen to see one again. It wasn't the only creature making a commotion in the water as a huge Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar launched itself out of the water just in front of us, spectacular. 

It was an eventful evening with many Daubenton's Bat's swirling about us, a Roe buck barking as we disturbed him from the undergrowth. On the way home over 100 Red Deer crossed the road in front of us. 

This was the second time I'd made an evening visit to this spot recently. The photos were taken a week earlier when I took a friend there. That had been an exciting evening as before seeing the Beaver I finally got to see a live Pine Marten. I'd promised myself that I'd find my own and not go to a feeding station. Even though Pine Marten are seen by our neighbours every now and then these are not easy animals to find. No photo as it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared in front of us, posing for just the second needed to get it in the bins.

That had been the finale to an excellent day in the field. It had been a butterfly bonanza at Invergeldie, the sunny but windy afternoon conditions enabling many photographs of fritillaries.

Dark Green Fritillary

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

 The afternoon had also produced Geotrupes stercorarius which I was pleased to see.

Geotrupes stercorarius

Earlier in the day we'd gone up to the community woodland to look at the orchids and bumped in the first Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet of the year.

Narrow-bordered 5-spot Burnet

 With my P-SL I seem to be going backwards as often as forwards with the species list. The two species added above were negated by the removal of Male Fern (reading indicates this is a much more difficult identification than I thought) and an Anthomyzidae, Anthomyia pluvialis was not proven.

However, a good deal of botanical learning is leading to some more species being added to the community woodland list and to mine. I now have a copy of Stace on order which will hopefully improve my understanding.

Today was a very good moth day. Lights set last night and three traps running in our small garden led to 68 moth species and a few non-moth bits and bats. Included in the 68 were Barred Grass-veneer Agriphila inquinatella and a couple of Rustic, which surprisingly I hadn't previously recorded. 

Rustic

Agriphila inquinatella

Not the prettiest of moths either of these, and the list included some very attractive species.

Argyresthia brockeella

Beautiful China-mark

Caloptria margaritella

Coxcomb Prominent

Dotted Carpet

Gold Spangle

V Pug

 However, the best was yet to come as late in the day I checked the pheromone traps.

This one nearly escaped as it wasn't in the trap but under the rain cover, fortunately it fell in the trap when I touched it. 

Buff Footman, an excellent find.

Welsh Clearwing

I've used the lure for Welsh Clearwing many times with no success, until bingo! There are very few Scottish records of this species so another excellent record.