The Outer Hebrides are a string of islands on north-west edge of the British Isles, separated from the mainland and islands of the Inner Hebrides by the Minch and Sea of the Hebrides. All the islands all have their own distinct character; their landscapes and rich wildlife protected by...
Animal species in my garden Not a cricket score but the number of animal species recorded from my garden over the last four years. It does however remind me of the memorable day ten years ago in November 2010 when as I perused the overnight cricket scores from Australia...
Sometimes a common term can create very different images depending on how you view the world. So what picture does the term “pond skater” bring to mind? An iconic work of art or an aquatic insect? The champion pond skaters of the natural world, the water measurers (Hydrometridae),...
Back in January a few of us involved in Curracag and the Outer Hebrides Biological Recording group decided to launch a phenology survey we ended up calling Signs of Spring. Phenology is the study of when things happen and for centuries people have systematically recorded when certain natural events...
The elegant, soaring song flights of larks embellishing a summer morning are celebrated in the the glorious collective term an “elevation of larks”. Alas there is no such epipthet for the Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis). The sound of a male pipit ascending to declare his territory is unlikely to...
I enjoyed reading the recent summary of insectivorous plants in the Outer Hebrides and was reminded of it whilst taking part in my ritual but futile summer Horsetail pulling. Like many, my garden is riddled with horsetail and we have an uneasy truce. It grows, I pull it up,...