Butterflies

At this time of year, with the weather here changing by the minute, it only takes a little sun and the temperature rising above about 15C for several species of butterfly to start to appear; and the opposite, for if the temperature drops below 15C they as suddenly disappear.

So, for example, on Wednesday when I went out at about nine in the morning the sun was out and the air temperature a balmy 17C....

....and a variety of butterflies were on the wing, including a tortoiseshell, a small copper, several whites, and....

....a male orange tip; but by lunchtime the air temperature had dropped suddenly, to a mere 13C, and there wasn't a butterfly to be seen.

I suppose that the butterflies which survive around here must have adapted to the vagaries of this climate.

There is, however, one species which seems to be different: the speckled wood. This butterfly can be in the air with the temperature relatively low - but only on condition that the sun is out.

Ships in the Firth

It isn't often that we see a cruise ship making its way in or out of Invergordon, not because there aren't now plenty calling at that port but because the ships are too far away. However, last Wednesday we had a good view of the Norwegian Star leaving port - not because she was any closer than other ships but because she was beautifully picked out by the low, setting sun.

Over the last couple of weeks we've seen an unusually large number of working - as opposed to passenger - ships anchoring in the firth, not because they were seeking shelter from poor weather but because they seemed not to have any work. This is the Esvagt Alba a work/repair vessel which services the Moray East wind farm just to the south of us.

Delivered in 2021 to Danish owners, it's not the first time we've seen her.

This is the Maursund, a Norway-registered landing craft built in 1972, while....

....this is the Monika with a cargo we're noticing more and more - towers and blades for wind farms. She's described as a general cargo ship but her long, open cargo deck is ideal for delivering the bulky parts of wind turbines. She's Dutch-owned but registered in Madeira.

Carrying a similar cargo, this is he Aramis, described as a general cargo ship, registered in Lithuania.

One of the joys of our time living in Kilchoan was that we could watch, from our house, the many ships of many varieties moving up and down the Sound of Mull, often passing very close to us.

Tsuro Settles In

Last Friday we welcomed Tsuro home after an absence which we feared might have been terminal but which was caused by the appearance of a marauding black cat. Well, I'm pleased to inform his growing fan base that we're now, once again, seeing him regularly.

At first it was unrestrained joy at having him back safe and sound but this was tempered when he started to indulge some of his bad habits, like....

....nibbling the flowers off our precious aubretia.

Happily, while he doesn't do too much damage to our planted flowers, he's doing a grand job of keeping down the grass and other coverings on our paths.

We're fairly certain that he's made his home in the marsh grass on the far side of our 'pond' - a 'pond' which, due to the recent long spell of dry weather, hasn't had any water in it for ages. He must be fairly secure in there because....

....we now have two cats coming in to the garden looking for him.

Both of these cats come from the house which is below our back garden and, from enquiries round the neighbourhood, both are active hunters.

So, if Tsuro is planning to stay with us, he's going to have to keep clear of these two - until he grows up to be a big, bad, bold rabbit that even these cats are frightened of.

A Walk to the Hut Circle

As I set off up the track for my morning walk into the hills I was wished good morning by this cheerful yellowhammer, and by a couple of nearby butterflies, a small copper and a peacock. However, the main interest along the track was the wealth of wildflowers just coming into bloom, including....

....the flowers of blaeberry....

....heath milkwort....

....and tormentil, this last, very retiring flower being so emblematic of the highland's hills..

My walk was to the hut circle, about a mile-and-a-half from the house, where I sat on its low wall and enjoyed sunshine and the view. Soon, the circle will be invisible, shrouded by the bracken which is already shooting up; and it will remain so until almost a year hence.

I sat for some time, imagining the people who lived there two millennia or more ago, and concluding once again that they built their houses where they had a view - for the ground drops away steeply on the side the looks out over the landscape.

It is, of course, too much to imagine that it was they who sent a message via the best sighting of the day, one of the.... 

....fritillary family.

More 'Firsts'

This morning we set off in cloudy but still conditions, with the occasional irritating splashes of rain, to walk the coast path past Dunrobin Castle, mainly on the lookout for more 'firsts' of the year - and we were richly rewarded for putting up with the rain, starting with....

....the first grey wagtail of the year, seen where it's almost always found, just upstream of the footbridge over the Golspie Burn. Then....

....we were allowed to approach to within ten metres of a martin, possibly a sand martin, which simply sat and watched us unto we were just a little too close for comfort

The next bird of interest was one which should have been abundant through the winter but which conspicuously wasn't: the starling; and today we only had a fleeting glimpse of a flock of four.

Near the starlings we found the first eggs-and-bacon plant of the year, though this one was very much more eggs than bacon, which was a pity as good bacon can be rather fetching.

We don't associate greenfinches with this walk but this handsome bird may have been attracted to the sea wall by the mass of ichneumon wasps on the wing. Greenfinches are usually thought of as mainly eating seeds but apparently they do enjoy an insect meal.

The real icing on the cake of this walk came almost at its end when we spotted a painted lady - surprising since the weather was hardly butterfly weather and no other butterflies were on the wing.

Wet Walking

We continue to be assailed by a miserable north-north-westerly airflow which holds the temperatures below 10C at midday, and also brings sharp wintery showers of hail interspersed with some of the heaviest, though not unwelcome rain we've seen in months - so taking a walk involves donning all the heavy waterproofs of winter, and taking photos is severely restricted. However, on the bright side, when the sun is out the gorse still burns enthusiastically.

I walked out this morning looking for anything new, and almost immediately stumbled across the year's first lesser stitchwort hastening its flowering before it's buried under rampant bracken.

In this weather, the last thing I expected to find was a large caterpillar - albeit a very unhappy caterpillar holding on to a twig of dead gorse. I think, without certainty, that it's the caterpillar of the drinker moth.

One doesn't normally expect to find something of interest in the bottom of a soggy ditch but these are only the second example I've found of a fungus called bog beacon Mitrula paludosa. There were only half a dozen of these tiny fungi....

....this one, the largest, being about 10mm high.

Shortly after I arrived home Mrs MW called me to the window. Tsuro was back on the lawn enjoying a late breakfast of succulent grass. We were mightily relieved to be able to welcome him home.

Missing

We're very worried about Tsuro the rabbit. He hasn't been seen in the garden since this photo was taken two days ago and it was on that day that we first saw....

....this very handsome black cat.

It comes in to our property from the house that's below our back garden but we've not seen it before so don't know who owns it - not that cats can be 'owned' like dogs are.

The cat was paying special attention to the part of the garden, round the pond, which is, or perhaps was Tsuro's patch. We chased it back down the bank to where it belongs several times but it was back again in no time, and we tried strengthening the fence. Then, today, we've not seen it, so fear that it no longer has an interest in coming into the garden.

Oh dear!