Great care needed with angels of the destroying type!

As the Olympic Games passed seamlessly into the Paralympics we kicked off the month of September and with just three days of the month gone, we had two gold post-boxes within sixteen miles of each other. The

one in the wall in Grantown on Spey was decorated following the efforts of past track sprint Olympian Craig MacLean (41) as he piloted Anthony Kappes to the gold medal in the tandem sprint final in the London Velodrome. This was Anthony’s second gold in that event, his first coming in Beijing in 2008, but with a different pilot. Craig’s home town is Grantown where the recently built sports centre is named after him in recognition of his many titles as part of the famous Sir Chris Hoy team, including Olympic silver in the Team Sprint with Hoy and Jason Queally in Sydney in 2000. He again teamed up with Sir Chris and Ross Edgar to win gold in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia in 2006 and earlier this year, with Kappes, won two world championships in the Para-Cycling Track World Championships in Los Angeles. So not a bad second wind, after having to retire from the Hoy team in 2008 following a back injury. The second gold post

box appeared in Aviemore after thirty-four year old Dave Smith won gold as a member of Paralympic GB’s mixed cox adaptive four rowing team in the one-kilometre event. Like Craig, Dave has been around for a while winning major events, his first world rowing title coming in 2009 in the Munich World Cup, but only gaining national recognition by winning gold on home (UK) soil this summer. Dave’s feat was all the more impressive considering he underwent life-saving surgery in 2010 to remove a tumour from his neck after which he was unable to move anything other than his right arm! Well done to you both and your respective teams. You can see both medal winners on the special Royal Mail commemorative stamps

Fungus searches have featured a little this month with a special trip being made over the mountains to Deeside to see something special. An email from Liz informed me that she had found a small number of fruiting bodies of a fungus with the amazing name of Boletopsis perplexa the Black Falsebolete, a close relative to the Bankera group of tooth fungi regularly encountered at Abernethy. Previous to this find there have only been 11 UK records for this unusual looking fungus, all from Scotland, the two general locations being Rothiemurchus Forest in Strathspey, or Inveray near the Linn of Dee on

Deeside. Liz has been responsible for six of these finds – now make that seven. The new find was by the River Dee on the opposite bank to Ballochbuie Forest on the wider Balmoral Estate but the fungus when found had been very badly eaten by slugs, so time was of the essence if I was to see what remained of Liz’s find. After parking up by the A93 I made my way towards the river, knowing that the previous records nearby had been close to the bank of the same river. After walking back and forth on lines about a metre apart I started to find a few tooth fungi, Bleeding tooth (Hydnellum peckii), Meally Tooth (Hydnellum ferrugineum) and then the subtle marker that Liz had left for the local estate manager to see the fungus, right by the Boletopsis (remains above left). There wasn’t much of the fungus to see, but turning over a part of what remained of the cap to see the under-side, I could see a small patch of the distinctive china-white surface with pores – tiny holes from which the spores drop. A good photo of the top of the fungus can be seen at
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qCVbJnC-vx6u5jA2OT8ypw  . A wider search found more bleeding tooth fungus and a single group of Sarcodon glaucopus (Greenfoot tooth -right), a rare fungus on Deeside. A visit

to several track-side quarries close to the Linn of Dee failed to find any Hydnellum gracilipes, another aim of the visit, but it was nice to see a few alder tongues (Taphrina alni) on trees by the River Dee and to sit on the rocks by the narrowest part of the river as it charges under the bridge. This brought back memories of visits to the same spot with Granny Ross when the family travelled north from Lancashire to holiday with her in her toll gate cottage (Bridge Cottage) by the Dee at Drumoak. Until she retired in 1966 (when Dr Beeching closed the railway line) Granny Ross or “Auld Tollie” as she was known was responsible for

collecting toll charges from people wanting to cross the River Dee by the Park Bridge owned then by British Rail (previously the Great North of Scotland Railway). Pedestrians, cars and passengers and even farm livestock were all charged for crossing the bridge with Auld Tollie popping out of her cottage (left) to collect the relevant fee, seven days a week, and during most of the daylight hours. The family originally lived just up the road at Park Station where Grandad Ross was a signalman on the railway and is where my mother was born. This line is the famous Deeside Line regularly used by the Royal Family as they travelled to their Highland Retreat at Balmoral. To read more about the line and to see Park Station go to http://www.deeside-railway.co.uk/RDR/the_line_2.html . Having seen the Boletopsis and the habitat it occupied I spent several days wandering the general areas where the fungus had previously

been seen near Loch an Eilein several decades ago and Uath Lochans in Inshriach where a Boletopsis species was seen a few years ago. These were all good outings with plenty of good records of other species but sadly, no Boletopsis. One of the visits to Loch an Eilein was perfectly timed for a count of the number of Meally Tooth fungus (right) fruiting this year, and after a couple of years where there were few to be seen this year produced a bumper crop with over 460 individuals counted. A bonus whilst looking for the Boletopsis was finding a new Meally tooth population in an out of the way wee burn, so not too bad an outcome.

Two other fungi worth a mention were found whilst looking for insect galls on aspen leaves near Boat of Garten. This wood, with many ancient aspen trees in a mix with mainly birch and a few Scots pines, has produced several good aspen based lichens in the past so, in occasional breaks from staring at the ground checking fallen leaves, it was good to scan the occasional aspen trunk. In one such break, as I made my

way to where an aspen trunk with some obvious rot holes had caught my eye (always good to check for rare pinhead lichens) I noticed a group of white fungi in amongst the grass (left). On closer inspection I became immediately wary as the fungus had all the hallmarks of one of the Amanita’s, a genus containing some of our most poisonous species. Being white there were no obvious “don’t touch me” clues like the red fly agaric, but at the top of the stem I could see an obvious hanging ring, and at the base of the stem a large, bag-like volva typical of this group of fungi. The two species that sprung to mind were deathcap or destroying angel, both, as far as I could remember being deadly poisonous. Having not seen either on my travels I thought it best to be cautious but at the same time I would need a photo and probably a specimen to check once home. Most of these deadly mushrooms are reasonably safe to handle it’s the bits that enter the mouth and end up in the digestive system that cause the problems. Admire isn’t quite the right word but I did, for a while, stand and look at this innocent looking fungus, no more than four inches tall, and think about what it could do. No signs saying hazardous, no signs saying don’t touch, no health and safety notices but there, a few inches in front of me was something that could probably kill me. Goosebumps! So I was hoping there was no one watching me as I lay on the ground photographing the fungus and, with a little more care than usual, one of the dozen or so that were growing was popped into a collecting box for checking once I got home. I did though look for a wee pool of water to wash my hands before eating my lunchtime apple. Once home I found I was right to be cautious as the fungus turned out to be Amanita virosa, the destroying angel. The second fungus I found also had me guessing as to its identity, but, growing as it was like a long tongue from the seed-heads on a grass stem, I was sure I was looking at Ergot (Claviceps purpurea), a member of the same

family as the Choke (Epichlöe typhina) in the last diary. This unusual wee fungus has a two-stage life-cycle, the "tongues" in grasses and cereals in late summer fall to the ground where they over-winter, the “tongue” then germinates in the spring - a more typical looking fungus sprouting from the tongue or sclerotium (see http://elmundoespectacular.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/imagenes-al-microscopio-2-parte.html
 for the most amazing fungus photo). Something in the deep recesses of my mind told me to once again be cautious of this innocuous looking wee fungus, with the strange behaviour of witches coming to mind. Right again! Ergot is very poisonous and can be deadly particularly if the wee tongues enter the food-chain via commercial cereals. Ergot poisoning is mind-affecting and it has been suggested that this is what caused the strange behaviour of ‘witches’ in the Middle Ages. To read about the mayhem that this tiny growth has caused see http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/wong/BOT135/LECT12.HTM .

Over the last year a group of passionate people have been trying to fight for the future of this part of the Cairngorms. These knowledgeable folk, like me, have spent much of their life out and about in the Cairngorms recording, monitoring and enthusing about the area and trying to ensure the area is treated in such a way as to ensure future generations can enjoy the areas values as much as they have during their lifetimes. Through their various organisations they have been standing up for the Cairngorms when others had plans that were damaging or unsustainable in such an important area When the Cairngorms National

Park became a reality so worried were these organisations by some of the initial plans for the Park, they formed an alternative Park Board. When faced with the Park Authority’s support for thousands of houses within Strathspey within the Park and close to the Cairngorms most sensitive core mountain area and important lower ground habitats, many with high conservation designations, they felt they had to act. As a group they launched a “Save the Cairngorms National Park” appeal to enable them to mount a legal challenge to the Parks proposals, a costly undertaking particularly when other conservation bodies/organisations have failed to object to the housing proposals and hence would not be providing funding assistance. Readers of this diary know my stance and feelings about how badly the Park Authority are managing this important area and I was very disappointed late in the month to hear that the legal challenge had failed. However, an appeal is to be mounted involving more costs so please take time to visit this website, read all about the challenge and help if you can. This appeal alone will cost £50,000. Thank you. http://www.cairngormscampaign.org.uk/images/upload/downloads/111001%20FINAL%20Legal%20challenge%20appeal%20for%20funds%20letter.pdf . The above photo was taken close to the proposed An Camus Mor development where up to 1500 houses are planned.

The final butterfly transect of the year was walked, and with all the results entered into Butterfly Conservations Transect Walker database, I was finally able to see how the season had fared overall. The

transect survey period is from the first week of April until the last week of September, 26 weeks in all. Despite the weather I managed to walk transects in 23 of the 26 weeks. Because of poor weather double walks were made during 3 of the weeks. Interestingly the same number of species of butterflies was recorded at 14, there was one loss, red admiral and one gain small white. The big gain though was in Scotch argus with an increase of 460 contacts to 756 so despite thinking it was a rubbish year more contacts were made overall (+428) and the number of species recorded was the same as last year. The attached table gives details. With the sun shining for the last few butterfly transects I was able to carry out a bit of additional survey work. Many years ago a small mining bee had been recorded in the approximate area of the last section of the transect and, being a close relative of the bee so regularly recorded in the sand dunes of South Uist, I was quite keen to see if it still bred in the area. Knowing a little about the habits of the bee from what I had seen in the Uists, I had a good idea where it would be best to look for it, and as I finished the butterfly transect mid-month, I headed off for a lightly vegetated patch of moorland with areas of bare ground created by a population of rabbits (now gone)

several years ago. The bee forages mainly on heather flowers and as I approached the possible breeding area I was fairly certain that a bee disturbed from heather was the one I was looking for. The bee, the Common Colletes (Colletes succinctus) nests in holes in the ground so my best bet to check for their presence was to wander slowly across the potential breeding area and wait for any activity. There were several bright green grasshoppers, the odd tiger beetle and tiger beetle larvae with their heads just appearing at the entrances to their underground holes, and a few similar, but smaller, hole nesting bees (Halictus rubicundus) present. Eventually I saw several bees which looked and behaved like the bees in the Uists, landing, and wandering around before disappearing into their holes. Having found their holes I was also able to watch the bees visiting nearby heather flowers. Just to be sure a photo was sent to bee expert Murdo who confirmed that I had indeed re-found the Common Colletes, and, looking at the site, the bee had probably been there since it was first recorded in 1999.

Migrating pink-footed geese were first recorded passing over on the 11th of September and the first “real” greylags towards the end of the month though there remains a little confusion with fly-overs by the local feral flocks. Strangest record came via Richard in Tulloch – a gannet seen flying over Tulloch moor with

additional records of a single bird in the River Findhorn valley during the following week. Janet spotted a hedgehog in the garden early in the month, coming out after dark to feed on scraps left by the birds. So regular was its appearance that I decided to photograph it one night and whilst out on the deck awaiting its arrival I was aware of a rustling sound under my feet. I didn’t move and eventually the hedgehog emerged from under the decking. As it fed on a heap of fatty oatmeal I could still hear rustling under my feet and a few minutes later a second hedgehog joined the first at the oatmeal. I had just time for a photo before the bigger of the two disappeared off under the hedge and was heard wandering in the general direction of the chalet feeders, followed a little later by the other one. Perhaps the two of them were living under the decking, but within a week the nightly sightings had ended and all we can assume is that they have headed off to pastures new. Quite a bit of time during the second half of the month was spent visiting various aspen and oak stands to check the trees for plant galls following on from the work mention in last months diary. More of the galls growing between the stem and leaf on aspen leaves (see photo last month) Eriophyes diversipunctatus, have

been found, the one on RSPB Abernethy NNR being new to the reserve. A few aspen leaves with the groups of brilliantly red galls (Harmandiola tremulae right) on their upper surface were found whilst out with the Kincraig Playgroup and when we stopped to cut open one of the galls leaders and children were highly delighted to find it contained a wee orange grub, particularly when it crawled out onto the outside of the gall. On the same outing a small club-shaped gall was found on a fallen oak twig which looked like Andricus seminationis (left) which if

confirmed, would be new to this part of the UK. However, final identification will need to wait until next spring when the insect that emerges from the gall (in captivity currently) can be correctly identified. Gall ID is not always straight-forward, and in the case of this particular gall it could be the correct gall wasp that emerges or it may be “an inquiline” another insect which could have laid its eggs in the gall initially created by the gall wasp! Phew.

The month ended with a trip down to Lancashire to see Janet’s mum and to catch up with all the other family news. We endured a soggy few days but enjoyed good pub lunches and wanders in familiar haunts. A walk

around Whalley found the River Calder in spate and paths across fields impassable but with a few detours we completed the walk. Along the way we saw many oak trees with good populations of acorns so of course I had to check for galls and on the first tree I was able to point out to brother John and sister-in law Jill the many knopper galls present on the acorns (left). The next tree was an alder and on one of the cones we also found the alder tongue. A calling chiffchaff was probably my last one for the year and once again it was nice to catch up with a couple of nuthatches. The month also ended with me being the proud owner of a brand new high-powered

microscope, replacing the useful, but basic model bought when I retired from RSPB. Brunel Microscopes (suppliers of both) were very good and offered to take the smaller version back in part-exchange for the incredible SP500. Two eyes open, brilliant lighting and a camera attachment “third” tube means that this will be my last foray into the purchasing of microscopes field. I now need a course just to find out how all the various forms of lighting and filtering work but in the meantime it is being put to good use checking out spores from a mix of fungi. Brilliant.

Enjoy the read
Stewart and Janet

Loch Gamhna

Physocephala nigra

Motormania fun Grantown

Pine sap-run - future amber jewellery? 

















Photos © Stewart Taylor

I wandered lonely, for once without a cloud

They floated high o’er yonder hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of dark coloured butterflies,
Beside the track, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. (With apologies to W. Wordsworth).

I’m not too sure how the Times newspaper managed it, but their campaign for sunshine and dry weather for the Olympic Games worked (in the main), the spin-off being that some of the same weather reached the Highlands. This was good news for the late summer emerging butterflies, the main beneficiary in this part of

the world being the Scotch argus (left), the most common butterfly in most years during the month of August. Despite the poor weather between April and July, most Loch Garten butterfly transects were walked but with few species emerging in any numbers. Thank goodness for green-veined whites I say, without which there would have been little to record, but with the arrival of a bit of sun, a few ringlets put in a late appearance along with some small heaths. Small tortoiseshell, common blue, large heath and meadow brown were also occasionally seen. But it was the transect, walked on the 12 August after several days of good weather, that drove me to

poetry(?). Scotch argus were recorded in almost all 11 sections of the transect with the 3 sections associated with Tulloch Moor being the most spectacular. The road section produced 109 butterflies, the moor track section 72 and the moorland habitat section back to the road 102! Despite there only being 72 on the track section it was this area that was most amazing with butterflies taking off from the ground and forming mini clouds as I walked along the track corridor through the trees, clouds of butterflies being something not often experienced on this particular transect. In all, 297 Scotch argus butterflies were recorded, the highest single count in the transect’s thirty-five year history and higher than most year’s annual

total! The butterfly transect also provided records of six-spot burnet moths, a superb bee-mimic hoverfly (Arctophila superbiens) and another record of the spiked shield-bug (Picromerus bidens above right). More

unusual was a wee fly identified by Murdo as (Tryetoptera punctulata left) the snail hunter fly. I wasn’t too sure why this wee innocuous looking fly could be a snail hunter so while it remained captive in its jar I lifted a few plant pots in the garden and found small snails which I introduced into the jar. The fly initially hopped onto a snail’s shell and had a slow ride round the jar, but there was no attempt to do anything to attack the snail. The fly did though spend a bit of time on one of the snail’s slime trail and appeared to be feeding there so perhaps this is what it “hunts” for? Both fly and snails were released unharmed. As I type there is just one more butterfly transect to complete (1 of 26 between April & September) so it will be interesting to see what the overall picture for the year will be like – more about that next month.

Janet has had a busy month with craft sale events with two Farmers Markets, the local Abernethy Highland Games and stock to a couple of local shops. Amazingly the outing to the Grantown Show was in dry conditions this year compared to the mud bath of 2011, and the Olympic weather also prevailed for the

Highland Games, all good news for the event organisers ensuring enough income for next year’s events. Once the tents had all been erected for the Grantown Show and the stock delivered to Janet’s tent it was off up the road towards Forres to check out an old, large limestone quarry on the Altyre Estate. Botanical recorder Ian had alerted me to its existence after he had lead an outing there a month earlier to look for some unusual plants, so with lichens in mind I was quite keen to see what might be there. If I had managed to check the maps properly I would have found a clue to the quarry’s existence as it just happens to be in a wood called Limekilns Wood next to a house called Limekilns Cottage, so, with the car parked by the main road I wandered along the track towards the quarry. The woodland and vegetation in this area, despite only being about twenty-five miles from Nethybridge, is a mixture of oaks and birch with adjacent productive conifer forest and clumps of brambles everywhere, something quite rare nearer to home. A patch of Sitka spruce to the left of the track was marked for thinning and was displaying a typically needle carpeted forest floor almost devoid of any vegetation, but every so often I could see clumps of fungi which would need to be checked. However, a

lady was approaching walking her dog so I decided the last thing I should do was disappear off into the trees, so this would be something to check on the way out. The quarry, according to the map, was set back from the track so I had to pick the right spot to push my way through the birches and conifers to find a way in, but, having picked a likely spot I was lucky enough to walk right onto the old kiln that would have been used many years ago to burn lime (see an earlier diary re this process). Impressive walls of crumbly rock just ahead indicated I had found the quarry and the first plant of note was twayblade so a quick GPS location was taken just in case Ian had missed these plants on his earlier visit. About twenty plants were seen in total, but, not wanting to be

distracted from my main reason for the visit, I headed for the rocky outcrops. My initial hopes of large areas of exposed rock being home to lots of lichens were soon dashed as most of the rock was in a very soft and crumbly state, far too loose for lichens to become established and though all sections were visited, nothing of note was found. All around though were speckled wood butterflies, a real rarity close to home, and a strange orange collar-like growth on stems of grass looked fungal and turned out to be the choke (Epichlöe typhina above left). So, back on the track, and aware that I would be needed shortly to help Janet pack up, I headed back to the Sitka plantation to quickly check the fungus growing on the plough-lines. The first group of fruiting bodies had the appearance of something I see quite regularly in Loch Garten pinewoods but when I picked

one and turned it over I was greeted by spiny teeth not gills, so time for a quick head-scratch. With all the work on tooth fungi in Abernethy over the last few years this fungus should have been easy to identify but it didn’t look quite right for any of the 14 regular species I had encountered. It did look a bit like the Drab Tooth (Bankera fuligineoalba above right) but without all the usual pine needle debris stuck to its cap. As I looked around there were quite a lot of fruiting bodies so a few photos were taken (below right) along with a couple of samples to check once I returned home. Back home, after dismantling the Farmers Market en route, I set a couple of the fungus on glass slides to allow a spore print to be obtained (left), whilst also checking books and fungi websites. I stuck with Bankera being the species but was heading in the direction of Bankera violascens, a rare species in the UK and a fungus I had travelled to Deeside to see the previous summer at its only currently known UK site. Help! Next morning, the spore print was white and the spiky spores were of

the right size so time to send copies of photos off to a couple of folk who might be able to help with the correct ID. Initial responses were positive and eventually a sample sent away to be checked also confirmed that I had the right species. A return visit to the wood found over 1100 fruiting bodies, so quite an important site and hopefully my emails to the estate about taking a little care when thinning the trees might pay dividends but, to date, there hasn’t been a response. Despite its rarity the fungus doesn’t have any “legal” protection because it is classed as an introduction growing as it does with introduced spruce trees, so it is down to the estate, knowing what they have in their plantation, to manage the wood as they see fit. Hopefully, some patches might be left un-thinned, but I’m not too hopeful. Back at the car an odd dead something on the road caught my eye which on checking turned out to be a slow worm.

Mid-August so it must be tooth fungi time, but for the first time in five years, not the big Abernethy Forest-wide survey, the previous surveys having provided about as much information on numbers of species, fruiting bodies and distribution as was possible. However, I was keen to know a little more about the distribution of

the recently re-found Hydnellum gracilipes and when I was asked to check the Forest Lodge access track for tooth fungi species ahead of some major repair works; I thought this a good time to visit a few typical sites along the way. The first quarry that I looked at didn’t disappoint and there, under the curtain of heather was my first new H. gracilipes (left) site for the autumn, and one of the best photos yet, not a bad start. The rest of the track produced most of the other species from known locations from previous surveys with fruiting bodies of the grey tooth (Bankera fuligineoalba) displaying the typical ID feature of pine needles stuck to their caps. To help protect the tooth fungi locations bits of red and white tape were tied to the adjacent vegetation so that these important bits of habitat could be clearly taped off to ensure they weren’t damaged during the repair work. Patches of serrated wintergreen flowers were also marked as were all the locations where the green

shield-moss had been found during the 2011/12 growing season. By the end of the month seven new locations had been found for H. gracilipes not bad for this hidden-from-view species. At one location, by one of the smaller burns running through the forest, H. gracilipes couldn’t be found but to make up for this an enormous population of the roothole rosette (Stereopsis vitellina right) was found probably the biggest recorded anywhere to date. Both species are found in very similar habitats, and where the photo of the roothole rosette was taken, unbeknown to me, a single fruiting body of H. gracilipes had sneaked into the picture (on left in photo above), both growing together probably another UK first!

During August there was quite a bit of crossbill activity locally and, with green cones on the Scots pines becoming fully grown young seeds inside the cones became available to feed on. The first indications that cones are “ripe” is seeing the apple core like stumps on the tracks where squirrels have stripped off the cones bracts to access the seeds. Crossbills on the other hand prise open the bracts and use their crossed beak mandibles to extract the seeds before dropping the damaged but intact cones to the ground. On a visit to Loch Mallachie and Loch Garten to count tooth fungi I was sure I could hear cones being opened by

big-billed crossbills with just a hint of very quiet song from the feeding flock of about ten birds. The clatter of cones being dropped confirmed my thoughts and, with very quite song continuing, I wondered whether this would be the start of an attempt at autumn breeding. In the past, quiet singing males in spring have lead me to finding nest building females close by, and though the birds by Loch Mallachie were in a flock, perhaps this was the start of courtship behaviour by one of the males. Many years ago, when again a decent autumn cone crop was developing I managed to find a pair of birds nest building in the middle of October, and though the seeds are much harder to extract from immature green cones, with a good crop there is every chance that young could be reared successfully at this time of year. I didn’t get the chance to watch this nest regularly after the nest was built so can’t comment on whether it was successful or not. A bit of time was also spent late in the month looking at a mixed oak/birch/aspen wood near Aviemore for lichens, plants, bees and insect galls to help the local conservation group build up a picture of its importance due to some of the woodland being threatened by a planning application. It’s quite amazing that you drive past a woodland for years without actually knowing how good it is for biodiversity and it is only when it’s at risk

that you start to appreciate its importance. One of the rarer aspen lichens has been found along with a very rare solitary bee and, as the oak and aspen leaf galls are starting to appear there may be a couple of firsts for this part of the world (one being Eriophyes diversipunctatus right). A couple of weeks ago the headlines in the local paper stated that the go ahead had been given to a planning application to create a “new” nature reserve close to the middle of Aviemore when ironically ancient oaks could be felled along with some aspens and some brilliant flower-rich areas destroyed by a development a few hundred metres away. I have less and less faith that the National Park Authority have a clue about nature conservation priorities in this area and it will be interesting to see which way the jump when they consider the implications of this planning application. In my mind it remains the Cairngorms National –anything goes – Tourism and Housing Authority, fit the Park bit in anywhere you can.

Late in the month the Harley Davison “Thunder in the Glens” rally once again descended on Aviemore with the usual “ride out” taking place on the Saturday. The noise of bikes gathering in Aviemore on the Friday evening could be heard as distant “thunder” when I visited Loch Garten, and with the press reporting up to 3,000 bikes for this year’s event the boost to the local economy by this event must by huge. The ride out this year was going to follow the route used in 2011 when I took grandson Finlay to see the bikes, but got the route close to Grantown completely wrong, so was too late to see the spectacle of the bikes passing

Lochindorb. The loch is famous for it castle on a wee island in the middle of the loch which was once occupied by the Wolf of Badenoch, an evil local titled character who terrorised the area during the late thirteen hundreds (see http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/usbiography/s/alexanderstewartbuchan.html ). The ruins of Elgin Cathedral and Pluscarden Abbey remain today as monuments to his cruel and murderous ways. I digress. So, with plenty of time to spare, I arrived at the loch in time to work out a decent vantage point for photographs and to point out a fishing osprey to a group of picnicking locals who had travelled to the loch to watch the Harley spectacle in an old Macbraynes bus. For a good twenty minutes before the bikes arrived you could hear their distant rumble and once they did arrive, complete with police escorts, it took three-quarters of an hour for them all to pass. Quite a spectacle but a bit of a waste of energy by what looks like a group of aging Rockers! As the crowds departed I had time to check out the small conifer plantation by the loch before heading home.

Holidays in Lancashire and time checking galls on tree leaves before they fall has delayed this production so sorry we are a bit late but do enjoy the read

Stewart & Janet

Janet and grandsons on Strathspey Railway

Common hawker dragonfly emerging

Common hawker dragonfly emerging an hour later

Fresh alder tongue fungi (Taphrina aldi)





Photos © Stewart Taylor except crossbill © Dick Manning