Wanderings around Kinrara and Inchnadamph

 On one of the sunny days in September, we went for a walk around  the Kinrara pinewoods.  Before we set off, I went to check the greenhouse but there was a spider's web across the path. I had to break the web to get past and carefully draped it on the lavender bush as there was a large spider busy wrapping its prey in silk.  Shades of the hobbit in Lord of the Rings! The spider is probably the Garden Orb spider (Araneus diadematus) and the unfortunate bundle looked as if it might have been a bumble bee.  

I found the same species of spider in a very different habitat when in Inchnadamph.  This one was sitting on a dead tree in moorland and kept obligingly still while I took its photograph.

You can just about make out the same stripey legs but the distinguishing feature is the cross on its back, so it is sometimes called the Cross Orbweaver. 

At both Kinrara and Inchnadamph I saw Fox Moth caterpillars(Macrothylacia rubi) crawling across the path. They are easy to spot as they are big and hairy and crawl around at this time of year looking for somewhere to hibernate under moss or leaves until the spring.

Fox Moth caterpillar at Kinrara

You can judge the size of the caterpillar by the car key next to it. It was probably a couple of inches (5cm) long.

 Another hairy caterpillar, curled up on a rock near Inchnadamph, was a bit smaller and google lens tells me that it is a Drinker. If you know better, let me know! It has white markings along the side.

One area, under the pine trees at Kinrara, was conspicuous from a distance as it was a much lighter pale grey green than the surroundings.  

This proved to be a carpet of "Reindeer Moss,"  not a moss at all but a lichen.

 My foot will give you an idea of the size

The structure is of many branched stalks, a bit reminiscent of a coral.  The nature of the branching, especially how many branches are on the tips, helps to decide the species. I took a piece home to look more closely and decided it was probably Cladonia arbuscula as the tips bent over to one side and had 4 branches at the ends with an opening between them.

Now on to Inchnadamph, or Innis na Damh, the meadow of the stags.  Inchnadamph is at the end of Loch Assynt on the Northwest coast of Scotland. I went there for a week with other lichen enthusiasts for a field course based at Inchnadamph Explorers Lodge. Some people stayed at the main lodge but I was in one of the converted steadings which was 100m away. Crossing between the two buildings one dark evening involved an encounter with a stag - I'm not sure who was the most nervous, but he ran off first! I saw this stag with his four hinds  in the car headlights when returning one night. The area around the buildings must have been his territory he was protecting.  We were surrounded by deer who roared all night! The stags must have been worn out by morning.

You might wonder what lichen enthusiasts do all week , so I will say more about Inchnadamph in the next post. If you are not in the least curious you can ignore that post!