An Teallach - the Forge

Two days after I was high on Ladhar Bheinn, I had another good mountain day on An Teallach. This a massif south of Dundonnell in Wester Ross, and again a superb wild place. The above shot is of from left to right; Sail Liath, Stob Cadha Goblach, the Corrag Bhuidhe pinnalces and Sgurr Fiona, taken from the highest summit Bidein a'Glas Thuill (1062m).

Loch Toll an Lochan lies deep in its corrie on the east side of the range.

And over on the west, lie the Fisherfield hills, with Beinn Dearg Mor guarding Gleann na Muice.

The pinnacles of Corrag Bhuidhe make a striking jagged edge to the route around the tops, with looming depths on either side, especially into the lochan corrie.

It is being up high on such rocky ground that makes being in wild places like this so special.

Lord Berkely's Seat, an overhanging pinnacle on the crest of the ridge, is a particularly halting point when one looks down from that thin top.

Fortunately most of the ridge is walkable, or rather scramble-able, with a bit of climbing, and views out over the surrounding hills and glens come around every hidden bend or rise.

The pinnacles are quite wide on top in places, oh, about a full metre wide, with some tricky foot placements. And if you are lucky enough to get one, a strong cross-wind adds excitement.

These are all anthopocentric terms of course. The local wildlife, such as this pair of ptarmigan, they are unperturbed in their natural habitat, where they live all year round. What a life they have. I had to drop down in the afternoon for food and shelter.

The view looking back around the ridge from Sail Liath, to Bidein a'Glas Thuill.

I have been on this hill several times, I tried to re-count while up there, but I can't remember exactly as I didn't do all the tops on all the trips. But I do know I will go back at least once more. Well, this is one of the most dramatic hills in one of the wildest places in Scotland after all.

Ladhar Bheinn - a true wild place

Ladhar Bheinn is the high ridge in the centre of this shot

Ladhar Bheinn  (hill of the hoof), pronounced Lar Ven, sits high (1020m) in the middle of the Knoydart peninsula in the west Highlands of Scotland. There is no public road into the area, so access is either by a long walk-in over rough hill paths, or by ferry from Knoydart. I have done the long walk in and out before, so this time I took the ferry.

Upper Coire Dhorrcail lies on the north-east side of the hill with great ridges sweeping down arround.

There was considerable late snow last winter and spring has been slow in coming, so there were some large snow patches hanging onto the summit slopes. The Cuillin in Skye lie on the horizon.

Ladhar Bheinn is in such a wild remote location, with wide views all around, especially on such a clear day as I had last week. Here, the small isles of Eigg and Rum fill the horizon, just south of Skye.

And the views down are also impressive. This shot is taken looking down a gully to the floor of Coire Dhorrcail, 300 m or more below. 1000ft in old money.

Here a group of high hill lochans lie on the north-western ridge. A landscape and view that has changed little since the ice-age over 10,000 years ago. 

The satellite peak of Stob a' Choire Odhair overlooks the magnificent head waters of Loch Hourn and the hills of Glen Sheil beyond.

Yes, wild.

Yellow

It's May, I'm in Scotland and the colour of the month is distinctly yellow. I was in the west coast Highland village of Badachro a few days ago where the Broom Cytisus scoparius and Gorse Ulex europaeus were spilling over with flowers. 

These shrubs are spectacular en masse, but the detail of the Broom flowers is just as impressive.

The Gorse looked vibrant when viewed against the full blue sky from low down.

And the detail of the Gorse flowers, tightly packed into clusters, was picked out by backlight.

Meanwhile, down at ground level, the Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria flowers were glistening amongst the remains of last year's oak leaves and fern fronds.

The Celandine petals simply radiated yellow.

And Dandelions Taraxicum officinale, such valuable food plants, provided an early source of nectar for insects.

Yellow - what a wonderful colour.

Moths April 2018

The moths are still flying here in Canberra, and the autumn flying species are beginning to show. As with previous months, I have posted here a brief selection of species I saw when out trapping moths with Glenn Cocking on Black Mountain last week. Glenn also identified them for me.

This first one, above and below is Chenuala heliaspis, a robust species with a good covering of 'hair' and splendid spreading antennae.

Some of these shots were taken of the moths on the white sheet which the lamp was shining on, others were of moths that landed on nearby trees or shrubs. To attain true colours, it is important to shield the moths from the lamp light and use a flash to freeze all motion.

Proteuxoa cinereicillis - what are the little spikes on its legs for?

Agriophara sp? If this one wasn't aligned squint with the bark it would be virtually invisible.

Achyra affinitalis - what lovely long legs this one has, and spectacular large eyes for such a slim body and head.

Utetheisa pulchelloides - the heliotrope moth.

Hednota sp - a long slim body, well about 1 cm, with distinctive stripes along the folded wings and long slim antennae.

And this was the champion of the night, as far as size matters. A male White-stemmed Gum Moth Chelepteryx collesi. A full 14 cm wingspan.

Bowra Birds

Major Mitchell's Cockatoos Lophochroa leadbeateri fly over the lagoon at sunset

Here are some shots of the birds we had around the campsite at Bowra Wildlife Sanctuary, see previous post. For more on the birds caught and banded visit the piece Jon Coleman, who organised the meet, on the Facebook page of Australian Bird Study Association Inc.

Australian Ringneck Barnardius zonarius parrots forage for seeds around the edge of the camp. They like to keep in the shadows. That way their eyes are shielded from the sun and they can see any predators approach.

Parrots are so versatile, they can grip such slender stems such as on this shrub, to reach the seeds still set in the dried flower heads, then pull out the seeds with their tongues and bills.

Over by the lagoon, there were four Willy Wagtails Rhipidura leucophrys hunting insects. This one was using branches lying in the water as perches to hawk from.

This Willy Wagtail was using a kangaroo as a hunting perch.

It wasn't catching insects on the kangaroo's back, just using it as a vantage point to spot prey on the ground nearby, possibly disturbed by the roo.

There were several White-headed Stilts Himantopus leucocephalus patrolling around the water, dipping to snatch insect larvae from the water, mosquitoes hopefully.

And there were six Black-fronted Dotterel Elseyornis melanops feeding in the very shallowest water. Well, their legs are a lot shorter than the stilts'.

In fact they are rather small birds, small enough for the group of them to hide in the sand around a log lying on the shore.