Wet, Wet, Wet

 I have just come back from a week on the West Coast at Lochaline, with friends from the Inverness Botany Group.  We stayed in the very grand Ardtornish House, in the South Wing, where the hall was  the size of some people's flats!

The first day was relatively dry but the rest of the week was very wet - but we went out every day botanising, with time for other interests such as lichens (for me) and moths.  The moth trap caught some bigger moths, which look very hairy in closeup.

Moths: a Drinker and a Buff Ermine

I was very taken with the variety of seaweeds along the coast, especially this yellow collection, with different shapes. Seaweeds are algae - similar to the algae in lichens, but bigger.

Of course there were plenty of plants as well, especially those that like boggy conditions, like the yellow Bog Asphodel and Butterwort clinging to the rock where the rain drained.

It was so wet that newts had taken up residence in one of the puddles on the track up the Black Glen.