Nature Notes #7

This is by far the most tenuous Nature Notes post yet, but bear with me.

A much-anticipated trip south to Inverness finally came to fruition, despite a fraught few days immediately prior to the journey when the ferry broke down for 36 hours. Fortunately, on the allotted day all was well, and we sailed serenely across the Pentland Firth, followed by a leisurely drive through Caithness and Sutherland.

En route, we stopped off at Golspie for a bit of early Autumn colour, then Skelbo for a picnic lunch. At both sites we found the increasingly-misnamed Southern Hawker dragonfly, a woodland species which is expanding its range northwards, and one has to wonder if it will make it to Orkney before too long.

The trip was occasioned by a fervent desire to see Elephant Sessions, a band who seamlessly blend trad, funk and electronica. We decided to make a long weekend of it and risk the company of 998 other music lovers at a sellout gig at the Ironworks in Inverness. I could be wrong, but I think we were the only two folk wearing masks in the venue, which was only a problem when the band played my favourite song and I was a bit emotional. Hadn't seen that coming!  

Anyways, here's the Elephant Sessions with a track called Is this a vibe from their latest album For the night.

Now back to the wildlife on our journey south...

Leaves were beginning to turn

A profusion of life on a tree trunk

More colour

Fly Agaric

Not what I first thought was a carelessly-discarded hot cross bun

Here be dragons (Southern Hawker and Black Darter)

This was the best I could manage, a resting male Southern Hawker

The day following the gig, we met up with a friend who was also holidaying in Inverness, scoping out if it was possible to work from home in the Highlands of Scotland rather than London. We ventured to Glen Affric and had a pleasant wander along various trails, seeing more dragons and fungi, and finding Red Squirrels, a Crested Tit and a Tawny Owl.

I think this must be a slime mould, rather than half of a chewed tennis ball

On the next morning, we shopped for a few things which are just easier to buy in Inverness than Orkney, then after lunch we headed for Merkinch Nature Reserve and the Caledonian Canal. There was a phenomenal number of Redshank loafing on the bank of an inlet, we had our best view yet of a Southern Hawker and we were in the right place at the right time to watch the railway bridge at Clachnaharry as it swung open to allow a pleasure boat through.

The track that had me in tears? Riverview Part 1. Which may feature in a Nature Notes of its own at some point.