21st july
The blighters get in through the smallest of cracks, and here were we thinking we had made MB completely midge proof! Two bites on my elbow, and we had even sprayed fly repellent before going to bed.
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| Window in the door recess. |
I smothered myself in anti midge cream before venturing out, checked out the front of MB, gosh it had become a graveyard for midges.
Today we travelled along narrow lanes with passing places. No plan other than to admire the views, stop when we saw something interesting and chill out. We would eventually head for Forsinard Flows in Forsinard. It was a RSPB site and today would have been the day to visit. One problem with that, the website stated it wasn't open until Monday. So the drive was leisurely and a good job too considering how many times we had to stop for sheep!
Several places looked good for a further look. One was a small waterfall seen as Ian drove past. A reverse to a deep passing place gave us the opportunity to stop. OMG. As soon as we stepped out of MB, midges attacked us. I was still determined to get the photo, I won't mention how many bites I had on my face. Ian got away with it, midges find him most distasteful. Shame they like me so much!
At Loch Navar we stopped again. The Loch was seen as we travelled down a hill, definitely one to check out. Beautiful place with the added bonus of seeing a female Wheatear and two small birds I have yet to identify.
By the time we stopped for lunch, we were ready for a short walk to stretch our legs. A boggy ditch ran along the side of the road, in fact the whole area appeared to be peat bog. One plant I had wanted to see was the Sundew. This carnivorous plant could be found in wet boggy conditions, I decided to go hunting. Ian came with me and found Orchids and a yellow plant, Bog Asphodel.
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| I think they are all Spotted Heath Orchids, although the pattern on the petals and colours are different. |
It's not that I know about plants, Ian with the plant identifier app on his phone named it for me. For him to get a photo, well you can see what position he got into.
This was at the side of the road too. Huge Fungus, not for picking or eating, but it would have made a nice mushroom risotto if I was sure it was safe.
Even taking it slow along the lanes, we found ourselves at the RSPB centre. We crossed the railway at Forsinard, the Scots rail line to Inverness or Thurso and just on the other side was the carpark.
A big sign on the visitor centre window flashed OPEN. So why did the website mention it was closed? It was still early afternoon, we decided to do the mile walk to the lookout.
Along a boardwalk with bog either side. A couple was met, who mentioned nothing had been seen other than a few swallows. Oh well, it would be a nice walk anyway, we thought. But I don't know what they were looking for but we not only saw lizards but frogs and this very strange caterpillar.
And to make our walk complete, I am sure what I photographed was the very scarce Great Yellow Bumblebee! It's only found in a few places, Orkney, (we saw one there), and North Scotland. The first two photos are very blurred but have included them as reference.
8 comments:
Hello Irene, the birds in the photos above your Wheatear are Chiff Chaffs, still enjoying the blog and taking notes for our trip next year, thank you, Caroline
Hi IRene,
Have you used i-record? They recently confirmed my photo of a thivk-thighed flower beetle. If confirmed your bee is what you think it is you have added to the sum of knowledge of their distribution and frequency. There is also a fabulous facebook page called UK bees, wasps and ants who identify all kinds of species of those, however novice the contributor.
best wishes, Debby
Thank you, Debbie, I will certainly look into i-rocord. And thank you for confirming the bee was the Great Yellow Bumblebee. Xx
Hi Caroline, I did wonder if they were Chiffchaff but discounted that because the call was different. It wasn't the usual continual chiff, chiff, chiff, but rather one call with a big pause before the next call. Thank you for finding out for me. I really appreciate the help you give me. Xx
Wow what absolutely fabulous wildlife pics, you certainly have a good eye for spotting all these mini ceatures and those beautiful roadside Orchids.
Well done bothe.xx
About the birds, surely you have the birdsong ID app on your phone - it's called Merlin! Easy to use, we have heard that single chiffchaff note and it ID'd it for us
Debby
Hi Debby, Ian has an app, but it failed to identify the bird. We may need to reinstall. (-:
One possible entry point for midges would be around the fridge. Unless the two external vents have a mesh screen (mine certainly haven't), the entire area behind it will probably be full of them! Any vents installed by the M/H builders will be another. There's one each side of my 'van, which can't be seen from the inside, but gaps around the furniture & panelling allow air to flow through them. And my wind-up roof light has a gap in the sealing rubber, to act as a further air vent, so even if it's closed up tight they could still get in.
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