The Northern Lights Come South

As old age creeps up,and one's face begins to look depressingly skeletal, mortality starts  to become a consideration   I am told its a bit morbid but I have my list of 10 things to do before I die.   The list is a bit fluid because I cannot always remember what they are.   As an aside, forgetfulness is also a sign of old age, and is now recognised as a psychiatric disorder, minor neurocognitive disorder, by the recently revised practice guide of the American Pyschiatric Association, but I am not sure whether that is good or bad news, as it is not even an -ism, just a disorder.   

But back to the list.  It contains the idea of seeing in the wild the Scottish wildcat, and both the European and Iberian lynxes amongst a number of other animals. 

I also wanted to see the Northern Lights, the Aurora borealis, with its spectacular colours, waves and ripples.   Caused by geomagnetic activity in the upper atmosphere brought about by solar radiation, 2013 is expected to be one of the best years for seeing such events, as we are at the top of the poorly understood 11-year cycle of solar flares.

We went to Iceland 2 years ago, one of the more reliable places to see the aurora but after watching another 250 tourists standing around taking pictures of each other in the dark (no, I don't know why) but with no light show overhead, we came back disappointed to the UK.

The extent of geomagnetic activity is measured by the Kp index which has a scale from 1 through 10.   At low levels the aurora is seen only at latitudes approximately equating with the Arctic circle.   But if the activity is high then the aurora can be seen at lower latitudes.    Skye is at around 57 degrees north and for there to be any chance of the aurora being seen the Kp index has to be at least 6 which happens only a handful of times a year.  Then add in the requirement for as a minimum some breaks in the cloud looking north, and the odds against a sighting lengthen (rain and cloud are climate features in which Skye excels).

I get an alert from the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks ttp://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast which shows the Kp index and predicts where the aurora will be seen - essentially how far south.   Last Sunday, a Kp of 6 in the evening. Terrific.   I raced as far north on Skye as I could, up beyond Uig.   As there was too much cloud I came back, and then magically at 10pm looking out to  Raasay, which is due north, there was a partial break in the cloud enough to see the green colour of the aurora. Not the most spectacular view but a view nonetheless.  So I  have now seen the northern lights and the best part was that they came to meet me not the other way round.

There are a lot more aurora photos from Glendale, in north west Skye at www.glendaleskye.com/aurora_borealis.php which is definitely worth a look for all other aurora obsesssives.

So back to the other 9, if can remember what they are.

When the Sun Shines

We had some bright calm weather in spells at the weekend and some early ground frost before cold north easterly winds set in.  There was snow above 2,000 feet on Marsco and the hills around.

It was Spring-like in the sun, and the Lesser Celandines are now properly in flower.  They pop up everywhere, because the croft is very damp.  They are underrated, I guess because they are regarded as a weed, and in sheets they look terrific, if a little gaudy.  I have literature to agree with me:  Wordsworth was sufficiently impressed with the plant that he wrote an ode  "To the Small Celandine".

There was no wind so that the sea was flat calm which is not a very common and the cormorants and other sea birds were easy to spot.    There were several Great Northern Divers and a total of 5 Red-throated Divers at some distance away.   Their summer plumage was emerging.  I saw 9 Red-breasted mergansers which have just about paired up but males predominate so there was lots of aggressive behaviour between the males.

In the warmer interludes small clouds of midges erupted in the damper areas particulaly near to trees and other shady areas.   This one was around 5mm long (body length) and I think it is a Chironomid fly - a non-biting midge, based on the wing pattern, the angled wings over the body, and the lack of a proboscis.   But I could well be wrong!  In Britain alone there are at least 7,000 species in the Diptera Order (True Flies), and if I am right and this belongs to the Chironimidae family there are 608 species to choose from.  It does illustrate how specialised the study of insects is, and how inadequate a digital image taken in the field is for species identification.

There is plenty of otter spraint around, but had no otter sightings.

Caterpillars, Otters and an Eagle

Quite a weekend.    

On Saturday we had a first, a brief sighting of a golden eagle.   It came up Loch na Cairidh, circled over the croft then flew over Am Meall (which simply means 'the Hill' in Gaelic) and disappeared off towards Blaven.   We are pretty sure it was a golden eagle rather than a sea eagle because there was no white around the tail.   Twice before we have seen sea eagles but this is a first and sadly rather brief sighting of the true native eagle.   I understand that there are an estimated 12 pairs of golden eagles on Skye, and according to Bob Macmillan, the local expert who runs the Skye Birds website and is the author of the really useful book, 'Skye Birds', they have fared less well in the face of the larger, introduced, sea eagles, whose numbers are increasing.   The breeding success of golden eagles is lower than that of sea eagles.  Competition for food may be a factor so maybe we should start putting deer carcasses out regularly!

We had some sun on Sunday, which brought out the first of the Lesser Celandines, surprisingly looking rather battered rather than full of zest.   Also in flower is a willow, probably an Eared Willow though I am still uneasy about a positive id, and it is always amongst the first in flower.   The Bog-myrtle already has male flowers.   This plant is dioecious - there are separate male and female plants.  The female flowers are tiny and I have not found any so far this year. Primroses have been seen elsewhere on Skye, but ours are nowhere near to flowering.    

There were a couple of caterpillars of the Drinker moth on the grass.   The moth flies in July and August.







Late in the afternoon, the otter family showed up - a mother and two cubs.  Fishing just off the slipway at low tide we picked them up just as they came onto the rocks.   They then went back into the water fishing some distance out, well beyond the kelp.   A common seal interrupted their progress on two occasions.   One of the cubs immediately made for the shore when the seal came near, and the mother and second cub both followed suit on each occasion.   

Later the family made their way west into Ainort, fishing close to the shore, quite effectively and coming out onto the rocks several times.    In all I watched them for about 2 hours before I lost them as they went further towards the bay.

Finally the pine marten box is installed 4 metres up a pine tree.   We wait with some interest to see if it gets a resident!   It is possible that the pine marten pictured may not be real.

February Moths

There are around 2,500 species of moths in the UK, most of which are night flying.   In Scotland the species count is roughly half that figure at approximately 1,300, according to Scottish Natural Heritage.   Moving north the number of species reduces further and combined with a restricted range of habitats, Brian Neath, the county recorder for both West Ross and Skye has records for only around 320 species or so for Skye and Lochalsh.   There may be more but the area is under-recorded.

Many night-flying moths are attracted to a light, and there are two main designs which use this principle to trap moths without causing them harm.   The Robinson trap is I guess is more professional and efficient than the Skinner trap, but the latter has the advantage of being cheaper and can easily be built at home.   I built one about 3 years ago from a design I found on the internet - sadly I can no longer find the link.  

We have probably put the trap out a dozen times or so, mostly in the summer, and to date we have found approximately 85 species.    This year I am trying to put the trap out each month, because the time of flight of most moth species is restricted to particular times.  So last weekend with a clear dry night, and no wind, though maybe a bit cool, I put the trap out near the garden and the pine and spruce trees.   I caught only one moth, a Dotted Border, which is described as common throughout Britain.   In August by comparison the count would be over 100.

The next night I found another species on the kitchen window, this being a Mottled Grey which is anther common species, in flight between March and April (previously I thought it was a Pale Brindled Beauty but Steve Terry corrected me).

We run the trap throughout the night, then photograph the moths at dawn so that we can identify them.  We then cover the trap throughout the day and release the moths the following evening, so that the moths avoid capture by birds.   There are two or three really good books devoted to moth id in the UK and there is an excellent website http://ukmoths.org.uk covering most of the moths found here.   Even so a confirmed species identification can be challenging, and we are very fortunate that Brian Neath is readily available to help with determinations.  

It is interesting that the popular reaction to moths is quite different to that to butterflies (of which there are only around 60 species in Britain)  even though they belong to the same order of insects, Lepidoptera. Butterflies are attractive and beautiful, the subject of paintings and poetry.   Moths by contrast are creatures of the night, and are just a bit too scary.   They also eat clothes.   Moths need a PR strategy.

The First Signs of Spring?

We made a small pond near the front of the house which is fed intermittently by run off from the hill behind us when it rains (which is not infrequent).   It works brilliantly in encouraging midges in the summer, something of an oversight when I designed it.

For several years we have had frogspawn in it and this year is no exception.    The first frogspawn this year arrived on Feb 15th, roughly a week earlier than last year and almost three weeks earlier than in 2011.  There was more the next day. 

 
 Last year tadpoles developed but it was months before only a few developed legs, the rest stayed as tadpoles.   This is probably due to low nutrient levels in the pond, and apparently the phenomenon is commoner in the north.  

Yesterday was a terrific day, sunny and no wind.   It brought out flying insects which were particularly attracted to the warm, south facing fence posts near the shore. On the right, I think, is a Common Flower Bug. There were also spiders just above the grass on the fence posts, quickly moving out of sight when approached.  Here again I am guessing but I think on the left is a hunting spider, a Pardosa sp.

We saw otters again.   Last Friday the otter family (mother and 2 cubs) were fishing out over the kelp at high tide.    There have been lots of suggestions about the most reliable time to see otters and the state of the tide is often mentioned, but from my experience it does not seem to be a big issue.   They do though seem to prefer the area of kelp so at high tide it is a deeper dive than at low tide.   After 25 minutes the family swam off to the rock holt near croft #1,   There are several half eaten rock salmon on the shore line.  Then yesterday at dusk we saw what looked like a male otter fishing near the western edge of our croft in Ainort.   

I have been making a pine marten box to a design on the Vincent Wildife Trust website.    We have only once in 6 years had a pine marten on the croft and it turned up three days running in the early evening for peanut butter sandwiches.   I think it got killed on the road some days later.   Pine marten are not uncommon on the other side of the Skye Bridge and on this side at Kyleakin, and they are slowly spreading north.   Any chicken deaths are usually blamed on them though foxes are probably the more likely culprit.

Anyway the box is ready to go, though as it is heavy and measures  0.5m x 0.5m x 0.25m mounting it 4m high up a tree is not a simple task.   All we can do is hope that this new luxurious resting place attracts an animal - though a meteor strike is probably just as likely.

Otterwatch

Forget Springwatch and Winterwatch, this is Otterwatch from the Isle of Skye.

The past two days we have had strong winds from the south west whipping up the sea into a ferment.   I measured a gust of 63mph on the more exposed, westerly side of the croft.   I imagine most animals and birds would find a spot to hide.

Today was calmer and I therefore expected there would be wildlife about.   To my surprise and delight I saw a family of otters, a mother and two cubs, then watched them feeding for over 3 hours.   Only hunger and cold, wet clothing, brought me back indoors.

I guessed there was a family nearby from the heavy sprainting, and I first saw them in Loch Ainort at around 10am, around 1 hour after high tide.   They went east (see the helpful map, though maybe a little confusing if I am honest).   The cubs were about two thirds the length of the adult.  All the while they fished, the mother taking dives lasting between 25 and 45 seconds, the cubs were more interested in play and dives, if at all were shorter, lasting 10 to 25 seconds.   I could occasionally hear the sounds of the otters; the mother making a strangulated cough "huff" and the cubs, a doleful, thin "peep" The mother was extremely wary and alert.  Catches were eaten in the water, until a large fish was caught and the otters moved a little more purposely to rocks just beyond #1 croft to devour the catch.  .

After 10 minutes the mother and one cub re-emerged going back west again, past me, the slipway and the cliff, fishing all the time.  Then out on the rocks, back in the water back to the slipway, fishing in the deeper water above the kelp.   Several fish were caught.   Then back into Ainort and to the bay further west where the cub was left on the shore and the mother brought food to it. The catches here seemed to be squid because the water is quite shallow there.  Back in the water again and east to just beyond the eastern boundary of our croft.   Same again, the cub was left on the shore and the mother supplied it with fish.  Sometimes the cub swam amongst the seaweed close in.

This lasted for about 15 minutes and there was one memorable moment when I correctly predicted where they would both come out on the rocks, no more than 20 yards from me. I think the fish might be a gurnard, but I am in new territory to make an ID.

I left them to it.

I suppose I should also give a brief mention to the three great northern divers and the four mergansers.   But this was definitely an otter day, in fact one of the very best I have ever had.  I have never seen otters fishing for such a sustained period; building up their reserves after two difficult days.

An Otter Day

I thought that these blogs might be occasional but this is the second in two days.

That's because today was an otter day.   About 11.15 we went to inspect the trail camera, walking about 60 yards along the shore and back to the gate to the shore.   There was quite a lot of otter spraint and some deposited overnight near the stream which enters the sea by a what we call a slipway but really is just a passage from which the bigger rocks have been cleared.   It was low tide.

It was then that we saw an otter emerging out of the sea with what was probably a fish which it ate within a few minutes then returned to fishing in amongst the kelp spending at least 30 to 40 seconds under water at each dive.   It then gave up, swimming purposely, nose upwards, head back, close to the rocks heading west round the cliff into Loch Ainort.   I followed its progress though the shore is quite tricky in places.  The otter resumed fishing, close in, caught one and then again came out on the rocks to eat,  with that look of complete satisfaction that otters have when they munch away.   It took off again but I lost sight of it in the 10 to 15 seconds that I focussed on a path along the rocks despite being no more than 50 yards away.   This is not the first time that I have seen an otter completely disappear.

Looking back over our notes we saw an otter almost on the same date 2 years ago.   I think this was a female based on its size and rather narrow face, and given the heavy sprainting  it might be breeding nearby.   Hope so!