The Wildlife of Meall nan Con

When we climbed Meall nan Con, the hill of the dog, the other day, we came across this lonely head of bell heather in full flower, the first we have seen this year.  Since the main flowering isn't until the early autumn, this individual is very early indeed.

Almost at the summit we found a dung beetle, doing what dung beetles do - rolling a ball of sheep dung to a convenient location to bury it and then lay a single egg in it.  This specimen was about 15mm long.

We must have seen about fifty red deer, most in two large herds.  This group included some stags whose antlers were just beginning to re-grow.  They also appeared to be moulting: we found an almost-dry mud wallow which had deer hairs scattered across its surface, as if animals had been rolling in it.

At one point along the Allt Rath a' Bheulain we came across what looked like a rust-coloured algal growth.  Has anyone any idea what this might be?

The one thing we did not see on the hill of the dog was a dog.  We think that the hill should be re-named the hill of the white orchid for the numerous, beautiful specimens we found scattered across its slopes.