'Harvester'

Early morning. High tide. Justin Cameron's fishing boat Harvester lies at anchor in Kilchoan Bay.

Lizard Problems

Lizards are very common on West Ardnamurchan, often to be seen sunning themselves on the stone walls that border the croft fields. But, this summer, we've had a problem identifying some of the ones we've seen.

Identification really shouldn't be difficult as there are only two British lizard species, the Common and Sand - and the Sand Lizard is very uncommon, particularly in Scotland.

This lovely pale green lizard spent some time watching us while we were enjoying the early evening sunshine. It isn't at all the 'normal' colour for a Common Lizard, but some of the websites suggest that the undersides of females can been pale green, so perhaps it's a female.

This young lizard appeared in our back yard, possibly brought in by one of the cats. While it's most likely to be a Common Lizard, the distinctive stripe along its back, and its colours, are closer to the much rarer Sand Lizard.

The Sonachan Hotel

The Sonachan Hotel, with the Community Garden to its right,

seen from the summit of Beinn na h-Imeilte.

Late Swallows

Above is a photo of a young Swallow which left the nest just this morning with its one remaining sibling. With wintery feelings in the air, let's hope this little one becomes strong enough over the next few weeks to be able to migrate south with the rest.

Many thanks to Steve and Sandy Suttill for the photo.

Hardy Shrubs

Walking across the treeless highlands of West Ardnamurchan, in amongst the grasses, lichens and mosses, we come across small trees and shrubs which cling to a precarious existence, often seeming to survive on bare rock outcrops. Some, like heather which, in places, seems to draw nutrition from the very minerals of which the rocks are formed, are easier to identify, others much more difficult.

The Diary had always assumed that this is Woolly Willow, Salix lanata - it has the oval, untoothed and downy leaves of the species - until a website declared that it is only found in thirteen places in Scotland. Perhaps we're one of those lucky places.

Woolly Willow can be anything from a few centimetres high to the height of a man, and seems to favour sites where there is a stream or pond. Their branches are often loaded with moss and scaled with lichen.

Like Woolly Willow, our local Juniper is a dwarf tree which reclines against bare rock surfaces. It was a plant which took us ages to notice, and seems to grow in some places more willingly than others - for example, we've found few specimens up the back of Ormsaigbeg. More about Juniper later.

This is another of the rock-huggers which, again, took some time to identify...,

....an identification helped by finding a relatively rare specimen which was covered in bright, shiny red berries. It's Cowberry.

This one provided The Diary's expert, Hilary Hizzard, with the biggest challenge. We found this specimen near Creag an Airgid during our search for the battlefield. It was all alone, and had what looked like budding flowers.

Later, we later found whole areas of them near Fascadale. Sending some pictures of these to Hilary provided her with the evidence for an identification. She says, "It is, I think, a hybrid cross of Mahonia aquifolium which is Mahonia x decumbens, otherwise known as New Market Oregon Grape, and your specimens are rather stunted and the inflorescences small because of the coastal conditions under which it exists. The older leaves have developed the spine-teeth which are characteristic of all Mahonias."

We've got one just coming into flower on our terrace - and we didn't recognise its wild cousin. You live and learn.

Many thanks, Hilary.