Buying new outdoor footware is a bit of a nightmare. Expensive and getting a comfortable fit is something of a challenge I find. It's hard to tell in the shop. My very comfortable Scapa boots are now not much good on the hill as the soles are rather like the tread on car tyres that are close to the legal limit. So a trip to Perth was required the other day. I've ended up with Scapa again, but a very modern design. So far warm and comfortable, but time will tell. Past boot experiences have not always ended well. The pair I wore for the John Muir trail ended up on the cooking fire about half way around as I developed a pathological hatred for them due to the pain they were inflicting. I continued in trainers, but the next day we had to cross snow... I'm just about to eBay my clipless Addidas mountain bike shoes (and the Shimano reversible pedals) as off the bike I might as well wear slippers. No trouble with the cleats, I quite liked them, but it's back to clips on the pedals, and I'm hoping the new Scapas will work well with that set up. Green mobility is pretty essential to all this species recording.
Birding has been interesting with another Woodcock (second patch record) and various comings and going with Fieldfares and a few Redwing. The Oystercatchers returned early, but then disappeared again with the cold snap and the snow. Mistle Thrush continue to sing and were joined by Song Thrush singing in the last few days. A Dipper was singing on the Ruchill. The kite roost has been around 90+ and Kestrel and Merlin have been seen during the counts.
I've discovered that birding patchwork is still going and is working in a more communicative way with a blog, I might join in again. Inland Scotland would be my league.
https://patchworkchallenge.blogspot.com/
We walked up from the very churned up "car park", I wonder if the problems have been caused by Taiga who are carrying out the ground works and deer fencing for the planting of many trees on the estate? We got up to the dam and there very distantly was a Golden Eagle. If the turbines are built the estimate is that they will kill 12 Golden Eagles over their 40 year life. I've been looking into the other impact of turbines on Golden Eagles and the implication is that they will move the Golden Eagles out of the glen as the species is intolerant of turbines. This paper is interesting -
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ibi.12996
You can read it here, but not download it without paying quite a lot of money.
There are more and more proposed wind farms for the Highlands. So much for the Scottish Government's biodiversity promises. It looks as if one of our most iconic species will be driven out, or at least the population will be significantly depleted. (I don't believe the Scottish Government really understands biodiversity, they seem to be happy to "mitigate" the adverse impacts by "increasing biodiversity" with tree growing projects etc. So iconic species are lost and replaced with a number of common species thus "increasing biodiversity". IMHO they've completely misunderstood the concept. )
The snow was quite heavy a few days previously and the view above the Hub at the community woodland was wintery.
The camera traps have been out at the woodland.
Somewhat tantalising as I've never seen one of these.
Brown Hare, again
I've been lookjng at lichens and mosses etc again. I find them hard, but bringing small samples home and putting them under the microscope improves my identification chances.
This one was a bit easier.
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| Graphis scripta |
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| Peltigera collina, which I was surprised to find I had seen previously. (note the rhizines are tufty and almost like coppiced Hazel (are these "simple?) |
I struggled to identify this, although I think it is quite distinctive. I suspect a lichenophile will have glanced at the first image above and identified this to species instantly, rather in the manner I'd pick out a Brambling from a Chaffinch flock. Thanks to CF confirming it. One of the problems with keys is that they are often pedantic and ignore how species "look" to focus on small, sometimes hard to understand, definitive features. This is a product of how keys function. Keys are often obscured by the technical language they use requiring a trip to the glossary every other sentence. Again this is understandable, technical terms are required and once learned are very helpful, just the learning for each different Order can take a while. However, it is not helpful when the key and the text are out of kilter and contradict each other. Dobson's Lichens is an amazing piece of work and my edition, 7th revised 2018, is well thumbed. Peltigera are generally considered to be a tricky genus. There is a table prior to the key that puts P. collina in the "Upper surface matt to glossy" section. The previous group of species are in the Upper surface scabrid or tomentose (at least in part), section. However, the first couplet of the key immediately following this table:
1. Upper surface tomentose or at least scabrid in parts - 2 (tomentose = covered in fine hairs) (scabrid = rough and scurfy)
- Upper surface glossy or slightly matt, not tomentose - 9
And then P. collina keys out at 4!!!!
Additionally, in the species description P. collina - Lower surface almost white with light tan veins and simple rhizines. On my specimen the "light tan veins" were very, very hard to see. And are those rhizines "simple"?
The new Introductory guide to Lichens does not really get you to species very easily, but the top tips for identification ae handy and the photographs are often larger and generally clearer. Dobson is still an amazing piece of work, the new book Yahr and Stoakley is a very useful addition to the lichen hunter's library. Used with the various websites and FB Groups you will eventually get there (and Observation.org can be very helpful if you are prepared to use AI), but along with the need to carry caustic chemicals around the countryside (I don't) there seem to be a lot of barriers to lichen proficiency.
And mosses -
Best I don't get into how tricky I find these.... Give me a Bembidion or a Stenus (genera of carabid and staphilinid beetles well know for being tricky) any day! But I am continuing to attempt identifications....
This post interrupted: Tae sup wi' a Fifer -
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| James and guests were, as in a previous incarnation, excellent. |
I put out a single Heath trap with a blue LED two nights ago. It was raining a bit but the temperature had increased, it seemed worth a try.
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| Chestnut (2) |
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| March Moth |
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| Pale Brindled Beauty (10) |
Next trapping should be at the community woodland, just waiting for the right conditions = not so much rain.
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