Fred and Sarah

The Storm of 3rd January - Helensburgh

2012-01-08T15:08:00.002Z

On Thursday afternoon we went to Helensburgh.

Although Helensburgh is in quite a sheltered location, wild seas had added to the storm damage.

Near the car park is a slipway, and the sea had hurled piles of seaweed and other debris up onto the road. The road along the front had been closed off while council workmen were clearing loose slates and pieces of roofing from the buildings.

Along the sea front, seats made of huge concrete blocks had been hurled about by the sea.

Part of the car park in Helensburgh is free. This is the free part. So this time we chose to pay!

The Storm of 3rd January

2012-01-08T14:48:00.004Z

We've had three bad storms already this winter, but the last, on 3rd January, was the worst. In this picture, in the foreground you can see our fence, tied up since it blew down in one of the previous storms. To the left of the picture is a gap where next door's fence blew down, taking a piece of ours with it.

Our house is behind the trees on the left in the picture below, which shows three trees blown down along this woodland path.

Many fences were blown down, including this one which nearly took our nearest letter box with it.

A friend of ours lost this huge conifer to the gale. It has completely flattened the garage next door.

Yesterday we went for a walk in a local forest. Despite numerous fallen trees, we were able to complete our walk.

On Thursday we went to Balfron. This house had had its front blown off by the wind. Workmen were in the process of making it safe. The house opposite was also unsafe and would have to be partially demolished.

Fish farm threat to Eigg

2011-10-18T19:33:00.005+01:00

The Isle of Eigg is currently under threat from a proposal to site a fish farm on its east coast.

To read more about it, please visit http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/stopeiggfishfarm where you can also sign a petition to oppose this development.

More about star jelly

2011-10-15T22:29:00.005+01:00

During the past few years, we have seen star jelly on a number of occasions. The most common time to find it seems to be autumn, though it is not unknown for it to be found at other times of the year.

There are a number of pictures of star jelly on our original post, but here I want to post some pictures which I believe are NOT star jelly.

The picture above, taken on Eigg, just might be star jelly, but the quantity was extremely small and I had noticed what appeared to be slime moulds several times in the previous couple of days, so I think it is most likely that this is also a slime mould. In the picture below, there is a slightly yellowish fruiting body, and behind it and out of focus is some pure jelly, and I think it most likely that this consists only of the slime mould.

One of the commonest and most likely theories about star jelly is that it is frog spawn, most likely rejected by a bird which was eating the frog. Birds dropping this from a height could be the reason why the jelly was thought to come from the stars.

In the picture above, there are black eggs to the right of the jelly, and a cluster of eggs can also be seen in the picture below.

Unlike the other pictures which were taken in the autumn, those with eggs were taken in March.

Read "Star Jelly Mystery solved on iSpot" for more information about the frogspawn theory, though this doesn't explain why star jelly is most commonly found in the autumn rather than the spring.

Soay animals 2

2011-10-15T22:04:00.005+01:00

In the summer we went back to the Isle of Soay, just south of Skye, where we had also been last year. We were looking forward to seeing how all the animals we met last year were doing.

Saffron, the lamb, has grown up and now has a lamb of her own.

We had to put up barricades at the doors to stop Arnold from coming into the house. He is now a full grown ram and could do a lot of damage if he got in.

The geese are now full grown.

There are two new additions - a mother goat and her kid.

In addition, there were bats living in the roof of the house where we were staying. One evening I went to an upstairs window to watch them emerge at dusk. Unfortunately one of the first to emerge somehow managed to come into the room by mistake and flew in circles around me. Later, although I had shut the upstairs door, we found it lying on the floor downstairs. Fortunately it was unharmed, and later flew off outside.

Heather for Heather

2011-09-21T18:20:00.004+01:00

I recently got back in touch with a friend's daughter called Heather, who was born in Scotland but has lived in the US all her life and never returned here since she was a baby. So here are some pictures of heather for Heather.

At this time of the year, many parts of Scotland turn pink with the flowering heather (Calluna vulgaris). I took this picture earlier in September when we were on the Isle of Eigg. That's the Sgurr in the background.

Calluna vulgaris, Heather, or Ling, is the commonest species.

In the picture below it is mixed with the darker flowers of another common species - Bell Heather (Erica cinerea).

A third species found very commonly, though perhaps not in quite such large quantities, is Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix). The two flowers on the right in the picture below are Cross-leaved Heath, while the flower on the left is Bell Heather.

The ordinary Heather, or Ling, also comes in a great many colour variants. The two plants in the picture below are the same species.

Occasionally you can find "lucky" white heather.

All these photos were taken on the Isle of Eigg during this September.

Eigg birds

2011-09-20T20:39:00.003+01:00

While we were on Eigg, we had several close encounters with birds.

On a walk through the moorland in the centre of the island, several red grouse leaped out from almost under my feet. Unusually, they didn't fly off making their "go-back, go-back" alarm call, but just walked out of my way. That gave me the opportunity to take a couple of photos before they flew off.

A few days later, we visited a friend who lives in the north of the island. She put out some corn for the birds, and a group of rock doves flew down to feed.

These are the wild birds from which domesticated pigeons were bred. The two have interbred, and pure wild birds are now only found on the west and north coasts of Scotland and Ireland.

The wild version has two black wingbars and a white rump which mostly only shows when the bird is in flight.

Hooded crows frequently visited the garden of the house where we were staying. These are a subspecies of the carrion crow, and they replace the carrion crow in the north and west of Scotland.

Easter Eigg - in September?

2011-09-18T22:57:00.003+01:00

Somehow, whenever I have a lot to post, I don't have the time to do it. I now have a huge backlog of pictures taken, places visited, things seen, from the summer, and will try to post some of them over the next few days.

To start with, some pictures from the Isle of Eigg.

A very out-of-season primrose, taken on 5th September.

Ten days later these flowers had been eaten, but the plant had produced another flower and bud.

Although garden primroses quite commonly flower out of season, the wild ones are less inclined to do so and mostly flower in March to May. Other out-of-season ones I've seen have been December (Eigg, 2005) and 18th August (Skye, 2008).

And how about an Easter bunny?

Tall Ships and Red Arrows

2011-07-13T22:58:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we went for a walk along the coast near Kilcreggan. Part of the object was to see the tall ships sail from Greenock, and to watch a display by the Red Arrows.

First, the Red Arrows

The paddle steamer, the Waverley, was also cruising nearby

And finally, the tall ships

Alpine saxifrage revisited

2011-07-09T21:33:00.007+01:00

The trouble with a blog is that, just when one has most to write about, one is also busiest with other things. It's 9 days since I went back up Beinn Dorain to look for the Alpine Saxifrage (Saxifraga nivalis) I found last year (see The Perils of botanical identification) and I have only just found the time to write about it.

After some hours of climbing in showery weather I managed to find the ledge in the rock again, but there was initial disappointment that the plant was smaller and hadn't produced a flower this year. My disappointment soon disappeared when I found another plant in flower a couple of yards away. There was no doubt that this flower was Alpine Saxifrage.

We hunted around for other plants of interest and these seemed to be most abundant along a narrow band of crags which were presumably calcareous. They included Luzula spicata, perched on a ledge with a view of hills to the east.

The yellow heads of Roseroot (Sedum rosea) were easy to spot and a good indicator of likely ledges as it frequently had rare species as companions. It had been growing on the ledge where I found the first Alpine Saxifrage.

Towards the end of the day we found a rather unusual Buttercup with a mixture of shiny and hairy leaves and an unusually large flower.

Further research suggests that this is likely to be a rather rare variety of Meadow Buttercup - Ranunculus acris var. pumilus - which has only previously been found on the Cairngorms and Skye in the UK. Once again, we will need to return for further verification of its identity.

Mimulus

2011-07-07T21:19:00.004+01:00

Last summer someone told me that the stigma of Mimulus flowers move quite rapidly when touched, in order to prevent further pollination. I was challenged to try and take photos of this.

Yesterday we found some Mimulus flowers by a nearby river. Touching the stigmas produced an immediate reaction, though it seemed to be necessary to touch the stigma twice to trigger this.

Before

After

I was surprised to find that the stigma returned to its original position after about 15 minutes. This seems to be a response to lack of pollen so that the flower gets another chance at pollination.

I took some videos of this which can be seen on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8qtIinYx4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2RPIMoz7Mg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEli7hany10

See also
Stigma behavior in Mimulus auranticus (Scrophulariaceae) by A. Elizabeth Fetscher and Joseph R. Kohn

After the storm

2011-06-14T21:19:00.008+01:00

It's just over 3 weeks since the storm of 23rd May. The effects on trees everywhere have been noticeable, but at the coast the results have been dramatic.

Yesterday we visited Ardmore Point near Helensburgh. Unfortunately the weather was very overcast most of the time, so I was unable to take many pictures in good conditions.

In this picture, taken by the car park which is quite sheltered from the worst of the wind, one tree is bare and the hedge is brown.

This isolated tree and those behind it look quite autumnal.

Many trees lost all or many of their leaves.

Ash trees in particular were left bare.

Closer examination showed that most trees, including this ash, were beginning to sprout new shoots.

On the west coast of the peninsula, all the leaves of the trees were totally brown.

Even in more sheltered places, many leaves were damaged.

This rose had shrivelled leaves, but the flowers were unaffected.

The picture below shows the windward west side of a hedge.

On the east side of the same hedge, the leaves were protected and remained green.

An isolated tree which had been stripped nearly bare of leaves.

An ash tree with few remaining leaves, despite being in a more sheltered position on the east side of the peninsula.

Another bare tree by the shore.

Brown trees along the main coastal road at Helensburgh.

Today we went further inland, well away from the coast. Even here, many trees were browned, with fallen branches lying along the verges.

Below - Copper beech leaves from far inland showing storm damage.

See these links for further information:

Just4theplanet.com

Largs & Millport Weekly News

Eigg in late spring

2011-06-12T08:12:00.009+01:00

At the end of May we returned to the Isle of Eigg for a week of rather mixed weather. After the recent storms, only one beach, that at Kildonnan, was good for finding shells.

The others were either covered in seaweed or tiny fragments of smashed shells.

We had some sunny weather, and this picture was taken at Kildonnan, a short distance from the beach in the picture above.

Near Kildonnan, we found this freshly emerged Poplar Hawkmoth.

We were staying quite close to the new pier.

Green Island is a favourite place of ours, though this beach no longer has good shells, due to the new pier.

In the grounds of the Lodge is a Chilean Fire Bush (Embothrium coccineum). This is a tall tree, and at this time of year it was flowering well.

While on Eigg, we were asked to survey Small White Orchids (Pseudorchis albida), which is one of the species listed in the BSBI Threatened Plants Project for 2011. We found these at two site, and they seemed to be well out on 31st May when we did most of our recording. We noticed that many flowering spikes appeared to be damaged, possibly by a late frost or salt spray from the recent gales. This plant, at Cleadale, was in perfect condition though.

I found this abnormal flower of Water Avens (Geum rivale) by the road near the pier. It appears to have a second flower growing from the centre. This had not opened by the time we left.

A visit to Howlain at the north end of the island on a rather damp day.

The first Northern Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza purpurella) were coming into flower, including this one which was growing in the lawn at the Lodge.

16th October 2011

In response to Linda's query (below), here is a picture of the wreck of the puffer Jennie as it was when I last saw it on 14th August 1994.

If you compare this picture with the third picture on a forum at OneGuyfromBarlick which was taken in 1988, you can see that there was some deterioration in the 6 years between the two pictures.

Fred thought there was almost nothing left by now, but there is a picture taken in 2010 which shows that there is at least something left.

Storm damage

2011-05-24T17:55:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was a wild and stormy day, here in central Scotland. Some of the most dramatic pictures of storm damage shown on the web were taken within 10 miles of our house, but here are a few taken in the park next to our house. It's surprising how much more dramatic they look when you can't see all the other undamaged trees.

All the above pictures were taken this morning (Tuesday), but the following one was taken when I briefly ventured out yesterday to remove a branch from the middle of the road.

As the trees were also in leaf, it looks like autumn because the roads and pavements are littered with fallen leaves.

The storm was unusual because it was worst during the afternoon rather than at night, so we stayed indoors for safety.

From Winter to Spring

2011-03-27T22:12:00.006+01:00

During the past week we seem to have passed from winter to spring. It seems amazing to think that we were skiing on the 18th March,

and on the 19th March we were walking in snow at low levels in the Carron Valley.

On 24th March we had a beautiful, sunny day, when I climbed Ben Ledi with a friend. It was warm enough to walk in short sleeves almost to the summit, until we were exposed to the cold wind at the top, yet on the way down we visited a small lochan which was still almost completely frozen.

These photos show the summit of Ben Ledi in the background.

The only flower we found was Coltsfoot.

Meanwhile, it has been all change in the garden. We saw the last of the Bramblings on the 23rd, and the Siskins and Redpolls disappeared at around the same time. Instead, we have Blackbirds, Starlings and Jackdaws all demanding food every time I go outside.

On the 25th, I saw the first wild Primrose of the year,

and yesterday we caught sight of an adder sunbathing on some rocks by a reservoir where we had stopped for lunch.

A day in the Campsies

2011-03-16T19:59:00.006Z

It snowed hard for most of the day yesterday, but didn't settle here. Late in the afternoon, I could see that the Campsies had a fresh fall of snow, so today I suggested that we might try going there to see if there was enough snow to ski. It was a damp, foggy morning, we couldn't see the hills, and almost no snow was lying, so we weren't very optimistic. We decided to take the road that climbs high into the hills, and to our delight we soon came up out of the fog into bright sunshine.

On the north side of the Campsies, there was plenty of snow on the tops of the hills, so we were soon skiing in good conditions.

Dunbrach

Meikle Bin

Lecket Hill

Near the top of Holehead, we looked down on a sea of fog below, but could also see far distant snow-covered hills above it.

We followed a forestry track for part of the way down the hill. The mist had now cleared.

A Day at the coast

2011-02-26T22:50:00.005Z

Last Saturday we went down the coast to Stevenston. The idea was to collect shells, as this is the nearest point on the Clyde where one can find a reasonably wide selection of marine species. Further up the coast, the salinity is lower and the species found are more estuarine.

I was particularly looking for Limaria hians shells, having found broken ones there before. After recent storms, I hoped that there would be plenty of shells washed up. I failed to find any Limaria, and the first section of the beach was covered in seaweed, but beyond the seaweed, on the sand, I found a good collection of small shells among the fragments of coal that get washed up here.

In the picture above, the shells are as follows:
Top row: Gari fervensis (Faroe sunset shell), Eptonium turtonis (Wentletrap), Epitonium clathrus (Wentletrap), Aporrhais pespelecani (Pelican's foot shell).
Middle row: Donax vittatus (Banded wedge shell), Acteon tornatalis, a turrid still to be identified, Polinices polianus (Alder's necklace shell).
Bottom row: Donax vittatus (Banded wedge shell), Angulus tenuis (This Tellin), probably Aequipecten opercularis (Queen scallop)(x2)

The larger picture of the 2 Epitonium shells shows the difference between the 2 species. E. turtonis on the left has flatter ribs which are not aligned between whorls, while E. clathrus on the right has ribs which are aligned through the height of the shell.

Apart from shells, we also found several dead brittle stars among the debris on the beach. This one is upside down, showing its mouthparts.

We also found this strange fish...

A visit to the coast

2011-02-13T18:11:00.008Z

Although we live quite close to the sea, it is estuary and sea lochs rather than open sea, so the salinity tends to be low, and pollution on the high side. There is nothing like the range of shells which can be found where there is open sea, though there are a few that particularly like the more brackish and sheltered location. I don't expect to find any really unusual species on these sheltered beaches.

Yesterday we made rather a late start, and the main object of our outing was to drive over the Ministry of Defence road above Glen Fruin and on to Coulport on Loch Long where we stopped to stretch our legs on the beach.

Unusually, the beach was covered in shells, mostly Horse Mussels (Modiolus modiolus) and Cockles. I wondered if it would be worth looking for Hungarian Caps (or Bonnet limpets - Capulus ungaricus) - one of the few British shell species I have never managed to find, apart from a very badly damaged specimen from further down the Clyde.

Only about 5 minutes after I had described this shell to Fred, I could hardly believe my eyes when I found a perfect one.

This shell measures 40mm across. Its name comes from the shape of the shell, and it lives on the shells of Horse mussels and scallops.

I also found several fresh pairs of Variegated scallop (Chlamys varia) which are not common along this coast, and some Jingle shells.

Chlamys varia

Jingle Shell (above)

Unusual cone found washed up on the beach

This cone has three spiral rows of seeds which run its entire length.

Winter birds, and other things

2011-01-09T21:05:00.010Z

Winter is always a good time to see unusual birds in the garden. This winter has been no exception as we have seen large numbers of redpolls and siskins, a fieldfare, 2 reed buntings and 3 waxwings. Apart from the waxwings (who were away before I had time for a decent photo) our most welcome visitors have been bramblings. We only saw these birds in our garden for the first time last winter, and then it was only the odd one or two birds. This year we have seen them every day, with a maximum of 10 birds present. There are 6 in the picture below, with 3 greenfinches at the top of the picture.

Bramblings are very similar to chaffinches in appearance, but with pink rather than white in the wings, a scaled pattern on the back, and a white rump.

Another unusual encounter on 22nd December was when this tiny goldcrest flew down beside me when I visited our local shopping centre.

On the same day I visited Victoria Park in Glasgow, where the swans and a number of tufted ducks were restricted to a small patch of open water, as the rest of the pond was frozen over.

For a couple of days at the end of December we had a freezing fog which covered everything in rime. Every plant seemed to have acquired thorns.

For more pictures, see the ice section of our website. This has just been given some extra publicity as the BBC mentioned it in their "Home Planet" programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 11th January. Their reason was that they discussed ice spikes in the previous programme on 4th January. You can listen to both programmes by visiting the BBC Home Planet web pages.

Quite by chance this week I had the largest ice spike I had ever seen - 143mm or nearly 6 inches in height. The tray was 190mm in diameter.

Flight, but this time not birds. I caught this shot of a plane passing the moon.

Snow - November/December 2010

2010-12-11T18:17:00.003Z

The first snow came on 27th November. We had about 8 cm, which was enough to get out the cross-country skis and set off for some wonderful days out, mostly in sunshine, and starting from right outside our front door.

I like this group of conifers, with a light dusting of snow making them look like Christmas trees.

One of our favourite places to ski is this big open field. It has several hills to make the skiing more interesting.

Another group of conifers.

Yet more conifers, this time catching the evening sun.

On 6th December we had another snowfall, which added a further 8 cm to the depth. We were even able to ski along the main roads, and we didn't have to worry about the bus either, as it had been abandoned.

As the weather became colder again, hoar frost formed on exposed surfaces. Here it had formed large crystals along strands of sheep wool entangled in a barbed wire fence.

Icicles grew along the edges of the roofs.

Two nights after the coldest night, when the temperature outside dropped to -15°C, there was quick thaw. Our house also had a curtain of icicles round the edge of the roof and there were frequent crashes all evening as they fell off. After two particularly big crashes, I went outside to check and found a piece about the size and weight of a brick, so I thought I'd better not go outside any more. We had one icicle about 6 cm in diameter and several feet long, which was probably the other big crash as it was no longer there, but that one would have landed on the garage roof.

Below is a view to the Campsies taken in Milngavie.

Frozen water drops in a stream

Life after the freeze

2010-12-10T14:40:00.005Z

After recording a temperature of -15°C at 7am the day before yesterday, the big thaw has now begun. I'll post some pictures of the snow later, but this morning I went out on my cross-country skis to the park by our house and was amazed at the number of small creatures walking around on the snow. These included spiders, flies, springtails and a froghopper. I imagine that the sudden rise in temperature must have caused the eggs to hatch. Below are a selection.

November snow

2010-11-28T21:35:00.003Z

It began to snow on Friday night, and by this morning we had about 12cm. I don't remember ever having so much snow here in Glasgow so early in the season. It seems hardly any time since the end of last winter's snow.

The park next to our house was busy with children sledging, though I was out before them when I took this picture.

Our cotoneaster berries were shining brightly in the sun. The birds haven't managed to eat them all yet.

This afternoon there were no signs of any road-clearing.

Even the main road at the back of our house was covered in snow, with traffic slowed to a crawl.

Back in the park, some old seed heads were catching the evening light.

Large clouds were building up, threatening a further fall of snow, though this did not materialise.

Eigg - The Giant's Footstep

2010-10-17T21:44:00.003+01:00

In this picture, looking north over the Giant's Footstep to Laig Bay beyond, it's easy to see how this loch got its nickname.

Tucked in a hollow below inland cliffs, it is being encroached upon by vegetation and supports a wide variety of wetland plants.

From the lochside, there is a view to Laig Farm and the island of Rum beyond.

Two of the commonest aquatic plants growing in the loch are Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata - named after its three-lobed leaves) and the delicate strands of Lesser Bladderwort (Utricularia minor) for which this is one of the best sites on the island.

In the picture below, you can just see the bladders like pinheads.

Isle of Eigg

2010-10-16T20:37:00.004+01:00

In September we returned to the Isle of Eigg, where we had first met.

Eigg is dominated by the Sgurr, seen below in a rather sombre mood.

Although rising to only 393m, the pitchstone ridge of the Sgurr is a particularly impressive sight when seen from the east.

The path to the summit lies along the north side of the ridge to a point where ascent is quite easy.

We walked along the south coast, below the cliffs of the Sgurr, to Grulin where there is a bothy. There used to be a large settlement here, but this is all that now remains apart from ruins.

From the south coast near Grulin we had a view to the Isle of Muck.

While we were staying on Eigg, we were asked to look for Bladderwort (Utricularia sp.), a small aquatic plant which traps microscopic animals. The search took us to parts of the island that we might not have reached otherwise, including the central highland area which contains many lochs of different sizes.

It also took us to the long ridge of Beinn Bhuidhe, which stretches along the east coast of Eigg.

One of the best beaches for shells is now the one which formed after the building of the new pier.

In this picture, the boat is just about to arrive to take us back to the mainland.

A strange insect

2010-10-12T21:47:00.005+01:00

A few days ago, Fred and I went for a walk to a boggy area near Aberfoyle in central Scotland, where we wanted to look for some unusual plants.

I found this strange creature sitting on some wet peat. I did not recognise it at all, and couldn't think what on earth it could be.

After searching through a book on insects, I discovered that it was the larva of a glow worm.

Glow worms are relatively common in the south of England, but few and far between in Scotland. Neither of us had ever seen one before.

For more information about glow worms, see
The UK Glow worm Survey Home Page