I spent an excellent couple of hours this afternoon on the machair at Cliad and Grishipol in lovely sunshine. Surprisingly, there were no Basking Sharks offshore but what was available on land more than made up for it. The main target was Great Yellow Bumblebee, but there was just one brief sighting of a queen. The red clover and knapweed was however covered in Red-shanked & Moss Carder bees, as well as numerous Heath Bumblebees and quite a lot of Northern Colletes.
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| Heath Bumblebee Bombus jonellus |
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| Heath Bumblebee Bombus jonellus |
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| Moss Carder Bombus muscorum |
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Red-shanked Carder Bombus ruderarius
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It was interesting botanically too, with Grass of Parnassus all over the machair & adjacent neutral grassland, and Frog Orchids & Field Gentians aplenty.
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| Grass of Parnassus |
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| Field Gentian |
I then spent some time searching another known location for Irish Ladies Tresses, eventually finding another four flowering plants - it looks like it could be a good year for this species on Coll.
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| Irish Ladies Tresses |
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