Thursday, 18 June 2015

#30DaysWild - day 18

Day 18, nearly the longest day, in three days time it will be the summer solstice, and the sun will start setting back a long the isle of Coll to the west.  We have watched it gradually creep up the island to the east, and at midsummer it starts going back, as the days begin to shorten again. I hate the turn of mid summer.

However I am enjoying the #30DaysWild, and I walked in the morning along the track to Haunn, and wished I had had a winter coat and hat on.  It is amazing we have any wild flowers at all!

The Bird's foot trefoil caught my eye.   It is so pretty and so worth celebrating, for it supports an astonishing 132 invertebrates including the Six spot burnet moth, which we have here at Treshnish.




Six spot burnet moths need Bird's foot trefoil as a food source on south facing slopes, with patches of bare earth.  Cows come in handy in helping to create the patches of bare earth - with their hoof prints. When I was checking the invertebrate numbers, I found this article about Treshnish on the Plantlife website.




The gang of hand reared lambs sheltering in their shed this morning rather than being out in the drizzle.


We had to go to see someone on our way home this afternoon. It was lovely to see all the May trees fully in flower.   Perhaps this means our summer will warm up, and we can finally 'cast a cloot'.



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