MACHAIR & TATTIE PLOTS

Went to Clabbach today, seeing many hundreds of orchids en route, including Early Marsh, Common Spotted, Heath Spotted and Hebridean Spotted, as well as a hybrid swarm of Common x Heath Spotteds.

Common Spotted Orchid

Common x Heath Spotted hybrid

At Grishipol we added Heath Fragrant and Lesser Butterfly Orchid to the list.

Heath Fragrant Orchid

Lesser Butterfly Orchid

Clabbach machair

The machair at Clabbach was covered in Kidney Vetch, Wild Thyme and Frog Orchids and was absolutely alive with Moss Carder Bees, probably over 50 in 100 square metres.

Moss Carder Bee

Kidney Vetch





Moss Carder Bee

Frog Orchid



The tattie plot at Clabbach was filled with arable weeds, dominated by Tall Ramping Fumitory and Henbit Dead-nettle as well as loads of Charlock and Sun Spurge. It was also filled with Red-tailed Bumblebees.




Tall Ramping Fumitory



Henbit Dead-nettle





Sun Spurge