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 serene figure of the Reverend Robert Walker, minister of the Canongate Kirk and a...
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...
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,...
The arrival of the Gooseberry Sawfly in the garden is the stuff of nightmares. Do not be deceived by these comely creatures, their discovery is enought to strike terror into the heart of any gardener.
As if to tease us, indications of better things to come arrived just as daylight hours reached their minimum. The first tentative daffodil shoots appeared amongst the rapidly dwindling Calendulas in the garden and deep in the hedge a Song Thrush started to sing. Knowing that the worst of...