Pine studious

These opening paragraphs are going to have to ramble on for a while, as the first photograph is of a spider, and I wouldn't want to make you jump without at least giving you a bit of a warning. If it helps at all, it is a super close-up, taken with me kneeling on a boardwalk and reaching across and down to the water's surface, so that my fingers were only a few centimetres from the spider.

Just in case we don't all know, I am not good with spiders, so if I can put on my brave pants to stare down an arachnid and take a photo, you can probably manage to view it from the safety of your device screen. Just ignore that tickly sensation which has suddenly begun behind one of your ears.

Happily, the remaining nineteen photographs on this blogpost are a lot less scary, some are just plain cute, and the whole shebang encompasses the last four days of our Nethy Bridge holiday and a broad swathe of wildlife.

But back to the first image, the beast in question is a Raft Spider, sat on the surface of a bog pool, and patiently watching and waiting to see what turns up for lunch [Spoiler alert: it wasn't me]. This particular pool, with its short section of boardwalk, is situated not far from RSPB Garten and its Ospreys, but we were there to see White-faced Darter dragonflies. Sadly, after several pleasantly hot days, this day was overcast and threatening to rain, so we didn't see anything in the way of Odonata, neither damsels or dragons (maybe the spider had eaten them all... just joking).

Raft Spider

Striped Millipede

Green Sawfly

The following day saw an expedition to try to locate a rare flower. Like all good adventures, this one began in a tearoom, the one at the Speyside Centre to be exact, and I can heartily recommend the gluten-free brownie. From the Centre, we walked into a nearby wood, finding plenty of wildlife, but not our target species.

Brimstone Moth

Red Squirrel

A Carder Bee on a Bugle flower

A view of the Cairngorms through the trees

We were looking for Twinflower, an Arctic-Alpine plant which mainly grows in native open pine woods, and is nationally scarce. Twinflower, with its distinctive two pink bell-like flowers, had been recorded in this wood, but despite following a path which went through likely looking habitat, we were drawing a blank. One of us disappeared into denser cover to answer a call of nature, whilst I politely looked in the opposite direction and concentrated on some pines (Stop sniggering, you Wordle-rs). After a few moments, I was slightly alarmed to hear my name being called, to which I tentatively replied "Er... y... es?" Someone had only gone and found several Twinflower plants.

Once decorum and propriety were restored, I went to have a look at the diminutive flora, which was even smaller than I had imagined (it always seems to be the way, eh?). Unfortunately, deep in shadows, they were not yet in flower, and I could feel my wrists being bitten by midges as I tried to take photos.

The forecasted rain hadn't appeared, so we walked a short section of the Speyside Way. On a sunny day, this habitat would be full of butterflies, but not today.

Happily, further along, a pathside pool was showing some Odonata interest, even at 4pm on an overcast afternoon. Diligent searching of the vegetation at the water's edge revealed several exuviae of dragons which had already emerged as adults after several years as aquatic larvae.

A mating pair of Northern Damselflies

A hawker exuvia, the husk of a larva from which, I'm guessing, a Common Hawker emerged

Another, smaller, exuvia, likely from a Four-spotted Chaser

Aha! A Four-spotted Chaser

Pathside pool

Hoof Fungus on Birch

The next day dawned bright, windy and showery, so we could take our pick of the weather. Thankfully, the wildlife pools in Nethy Bridge were sheltered by trees, so that when the sun did come out, it was very warm. Four-spotted Chasers, Northern Damselflies and Large Red Damselflies were very active, and we found another Common Hawker exuvia at the pond edge. Here's another gratuitous photo of a rare Northern Damselfly.

On our final evening in the Cairngorm area, we were treated to wonderful and extended views of a Tawny Owl, which flew into a tree across the road from our rented cottage. It sat there for a good twenty minutes, preening occasionally, but mainly trying to spot any movement in the vegetation below. Every so often, during a gap in the clouds, the evening sunlight would fall upon it and the surrounding Birch leaves, so that the whole scene glowed in mellow, golden tones. If only I had photographed that bit, eh?

Whilst packing the car, the following morning, I noticed a butterfly on the cottage wall. I didn't recognise it, but took a couple of photos to ID it later.

Not a butterfly at all, a Bordered White Moth

After leaving the holiday cottage, we visited the local cafe for one final time, then headed north. Past Inverness, we left the A9 and drove up the Black Isle to the small town of Cromarty for a walk around its streets of Georgian houses and Victorian cottages. 

(Barn) Swallow in Cromarty

En route to the ferry, we decided to have one more attempt at finding Twinflower. Several folk (thank you, Jenny and Ailsa) had recommended the pine woods within the Loch Fleet National Nature Reserve, so we made another short diversion from the A9. The small car park wasn't full, so we were able to peacefully wander along a track into the woods, our footsteps muffled by pine needles and our ears full of bird song. After a short distance, we came to an information board which described several of the flower species which inhabit this woodland. Whilst we were a little early in the year for Creeping Lady's-tresses, a delicate white orchid, we did find the others in bloom.

One-flowered Wintergreen

Twinflower

It had been a wonderful holiday, an eclectic mix of flora and fauna, yet a very different mix of species from the previous year in the same area, which I guess is down to the seasonal factors of weather and climate. Planning for next year's holiday starts now!