The summer of 2015 hasn't been a vintage one for the local wildlife which, like the humans, does like to have a little bit of sunshine to cheer it up. Despite this, there have been some highlights, like this golden-ringed dragonfly emerging from its nymph exoskeleton on the slopes to the south of Ben Hiant.
It was exciting to discover our first painted lady, which was found near the cleared clachan of
Choiremhuilinn, but nothing like as magical as when a few days later, we saw a second in our front garden - except that, this time, it closed its wings to reveal the beauty of their undersides.
It was black and looked a little like a burnet, but this moth is a red necked footman, and we found him during an Ardnamurchan Community Archaeology walk in the forestry to the east of Loch Mudle. It was only after we'd seen two or three that, as with the painted lady, he revealed something else....
....a gorgeous pair of bright orange trousers.
However, the top highlight of the summer has to be finding a frog orchid at Sanna - and not finding just one but a good hundred, in three different locations. I had been looking for frog orchids for three years, and knew they occurred on West Ardnamurchan, and had expected something rather bland, but the colour variety was fascinating, the prettiest being these purplish ones.
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