JUNE 2024 – SIGHTINGS

JUNE 2024 – SIGHTINGS

30/06/2024

  • Woodpigeon (I know, I know! But they’re still pretty uncommon out here. Maybe 6-8 pairs have bred on Coll this year – the same number as Hen Harriers!)

29/06/2024

  • Bog Orchid (12 of these tiny rarities in three small clusters in a Bottle Sedge bog. A first for us on Coll – or anywhere else for that matter!)
  • Heath Fragrant Orchid (having a good year on Coll – plenty about)
  • Pipewort (lots of small flowering plants on muddy banks of loch – another Coll speciality)
  • Lesser Marshwort (growing abundantly among the Pipewort)

25/06/2024

  • Red-throated Diver
  • Hen Harrier (male and female hunting)
  • Hobby (a stunning male hunting from its perch on a power line pole. A very rare Hebridean visitor.)
  • Black-headed Gull (x2 but no juvs)
  • Great Skua
  • Arctic Skua (x5 breeding behaviour evident. Will don our helmets and head out in hopes of confirming breeding.)
  • Anania fuscalis (a day-flying Crambid moth in the machair)
  • Northern Colletes (nationally rare solitary bee feeding at Pyramidal Orchid flowers in the machair)
  • Spiny Mason Wasp (new for Coll if our id is correct!)
  • The Miller (in the moth trap with 15 other species)
  • Adderstongue Fern (x2 spikes in maritime heath)
  • Silver Hairgrass (very locally abundant in the western machair)
  • Noctilucent clouds (a rare phenomenon high in the atmosphere overnight – amazing photos!)

24/06/2024

  • Swift (cruising around Arinagour this afternoon – our second of the year)

22/06/2024

  • Red-throated Diver (a pair on a loch and a single fly-over bird)
  • Hen Harrier (separate male and female hunting)
  • Pomarine Skua (flying low over the village late evening)
  • Great Skua (x2)
  • Arctic Skua (x4)
  • Short-eared Owl (hunting late evening)
  • Large Heath butterfly
  • Magpie moth (mass emergence on the moorlands today)
  • Dark Green Fritillary
  • Creeping Soft Grass (in abundance under Bracken – only once have we seen a single specimen of this essentially woodland species previously on Coll)

19-21/06/2024

A few days botanising on Tiree:

  • Oyster-plant
  • Purple Milk-vetch
  • Sea Holly
  • Moonwort
  • Shrubby Sea-blite
  • Northern Dead-nettle

…all the above are absent or very rare on Coll!!

17/06/2024

  • White-tailed Eagle
  • Frog Orchid
  • Lesser Butterfly Orchid
  • Heath Fragrant Orchid

15/06/2024

  • Great Northern Diver (x4)
  • Sanderling (x7)
  • Great Skua
  • Black-headed Gull (x5)
  • Minke Whale (x2 from the Oban Ferry)

14/06/2024

  • Great Skua
  • Black-headed Gull

13/06/2024

  • Snow Goose (x5 – our feral flock in the usual area. No evidence of breeding this year.)
  • Hen Harrier (x2 separate males)
  • Dunlin (x5 arctica race birds)
  • Great Northern Diver
  • Arctic Skua
  • Great Skua
  • Swift (a late over-shooting migrant bird – less than annual on Coll)

12/06/2024

Moth trap:

  • Drinker
  • Elephant Hawkmoth
  • Poplar Hawkmoth
  • Clouded-bordered Brindle
  • Heart and Dart
  • Silver Ground Carpet
  • Dusky Brocade
  • Knotgrass

Elsewhere:

  • Black-throated Diver (x2 reported – a great summer record)
  • Curlew (a pair including one singing bird)
  • Sparrowhawk
  • Black Guillemot
  • Large Heath
  • Small Heath
  • Marsh Fritillaries (reported – appear to be having a good year on Coll)

11/06/2024

  • Shelduck (a pair on the big sea with 11 tiny ducklings!)
  • Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly
  • Black Darter dragonfly (female)
  • Blue-tailed Damselfly
  • Common Blue Damselfly
  • Large Red Damselfly
  • Black Clock Beetle (a black ground beetle with red legs)
  • Heath Fragrant Orchid
  • Frog Orchid
  • Square-stalked St John’s-wort

10/06/2024

  • Hen Harrier (x3 separate males)
  • White-tailed Eagle (adult being escorted by Ravens)
  • Corncrake (x3 separate individuals seen)
  • Brown Hare (x7 chilling together in the machair)
  • Anania fuscalis (a day-flying Crambid moth in the machair)
  • Pyramidal Orchid
  • Sea Bindweed

09/06/2024

  • Common Dolphin (x5 between Coll and Lunga)
  • The Spiny Mason Wasp (Odynerus spinipes on Lunga)

08/06/2024

  • Sanderling (x100 mostly summer-plumaged birds)
  • Dunlin (x10)
  • Long-finned Pilot Whale (dead on beach)
  • Mass stranding of Oyster Thief seaweeds

06/06/2024

  • Great Grey/Lesser Grey Shrike (reported late today – no sign in morning)

04/06/2024

  • Corncrake (a quiet morning but the action picked up in the afternoon when a bird crossed the road in front of the van!)
  • Plenty of Early and hybrid Early x Northern Marsh orchids in the machair dune slacks
  • Heath Violet (a new location for Coll in machair dune slacks – only the second we have found here)
  • Diplolepis spinosissimae (a wasp gall on Burnet Rose – our first on Coll)

03/06/2024

  • Arctic Skua (x2)
  • Great Skua (x1 scarce this year but at list this individual is regular now)
  • Hen Harrier (x2 separate males)
  • Silver Hook moth (only the second record for Coll)

02/06/2024

  • Sanderlings (x5 breeding plumage birds)
  • Dunlin (x2 breeding plumage birds)
  • Early Marsh Orchids (in a new location for us)
  • Pyramidal Orchid (first flowering spike of the year)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.