One of my friends came over from England to visit and we went walking in the Kilpatrick Hills. We walked from Duntocher to the Fyn Loch and then through the forestry plantation to the Greenland Reservoirs.
Our first find of the day was a large Oiceoptoma thoracicum (burying beetle) which we found at Little Round Top.
We stopped for lunch at the Trig Point above and to the West of the Greenside Reservoir and were just settling down to eat when we noticed a cloud of smoke advancing towards us across the moor beyond the Humphrey. We watched as the cloud drew nearer and we could hear the roar of quadbikes and see a flock of crows following the commotion. The quadbikes continued up the hill before us until they had reached the spot at which we were sitting.
The bikers; who were wee high school neds; got off their quad-bikes and formed a circle around us whilst we ate. I was waiting for some kind of 'Pure Goff/states of yew' type comment but they just stood silently watching us eat. We persistently refused to make eye contact or aknowledge them and they eventually got bored and left.
Most neds I've seen in the countryside have been friendly enough, but I don't fancy being escorted across the moors
As we walked past the Humphrey Reservoir a Brown Hare started up just under our feet and raced through the fluffy white seed heads of cottongrass (Eriophorum sp.) which were dotted about everywhere.
As we walked past the Humphrey Reservoir a Brown Hare started up just under our feet and raced through the fluffy white seed heads of cottongrass (Eriophorum sp.) which were dotted about everywhere.
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| Looking towards the Black Linn Reservoir |
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| The Fyn Loch |
There was only a pair of Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) on the loch. On the banks of the loch I found a profusion of flowering Mossy Saxifrage (Saxifraga hypnoides), which I'd never noticed before.
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| Mossy Saxifrage (Saxifraga hypnoides) |
The word 'saxifrage' comes from the Latin 'saxum' meaning stone and 'frangere' to break, refering to the ability of plants of this genus to colonize and eventually break apart rocks by bioerosion.
Also flowering at the Fyn Loch was Pond Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus peltatus).
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| Pond Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus peltatus) |
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| Pond Water Crowfoot (Ranunculus peltatus) |
Walking through the forestry plantation around Brown Hill we spotted a flock of 6 Common Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) feeding on the pine cones.
The Greenland Reservoirs seem to hold a richer array of dragonfly species than other water bodies in the Kilpatrick Hills; possibly due to the close proximity of trees and shrubby vegetation to the water's edge. Around the Greenland Reservoirs we saw Large Red Damselflies (Pyrrhosoma nymphula), Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum) and Four Spotted Chasers (Libellula quadrimaculata).
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| Four-Spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) |
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| Four-Spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) |
The scientific name Libellula quadrimaculata translates as 'Little book' (Libellula, from Libellus: refering to the horizontally held, open wings) and 'four-spotted' (quadrimaculata). I love the intricacy of the multi-faceted wings: thousands of little tinted windows, symmetrically mirrored on each pair of wings. The whole insect has such mechanical precision and stream-lined structural perfection!
On the way home we found an unusually tame young rabbit near the farms at Gavinburn. On closer inspection the rabbit had an area of swollen skin round its eye - probably an indication that it has contracted Myxomatosis (Myxoma virus).
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| Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) |
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| Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) |
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