Northern Holiday 2018, Post 5: Glenwhan with Fritillary Butterfly

Photo taken by David Gill

We spent our last full day in Galloway on the Rhins. Our first destination was the spectacular garden at Glenwhan, high above the busy port of Stranraer on Loch Ryan. David spent some time above the main garden in an area of reclaimed moorland, and while he was exploring this part of the garden, he spotted the magnificent butterfly you see in the photo above. Now I have hardly ever seen Fritillary butterflies, but I think this may be a Small Pearl-bordered one on account of those central dots and the fact that the habitat was grassland with bracken. We have posted the photo on iSpot, and will update this provisional ID if necessary. The last Fritillary I saw (back in 2013) was much further up the west coast of Scotland on the beautiful island of Raasay, opposite Skye.

While David was exploring the moor, I spent some time in the little pagoda you see at the top of the photo above, looking out across the garden to the Irish Sea beyond. We soon met up and wandered round the magnificent floral borders and displays together, enjoying the bright colours, the views and the insects.

Marmalade hoverfly

The photo above shows the marshy habitat that has been created in the middle part of the garden, above the lake and below the moor. We think we saw Water Vole here.

We were amused to see the boar statue as we had seen a not dissimilar one at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight at Easter, and knew we were likely to visit a third a few days later at Castle Howard. I should be interested to find out a bit more, but here is a little information on the 'boar front' for the time being.

I loved the use of complementary colours in the planting schemes shown here by the juxtaposition of the orange ?alstroemeria and the blue hydrangea.

The photos above and below show the view from the little pagoda, with the sea in the distance.

This little Robin seemed quite content to perch in our presence.

It was soon time to drag ourselves away, but we couldn't leave without admiring a rather proud and magnificent resident ...

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 4: Tysties at Portpatrick

I photographed the above sign at the Mull of Galloway lighthouse on a previous visit, but can't resist re-posting it as Tysties are among our favourite 'Scottish' birds. The term 'Tystie' apparently dates from the late 18th century, though its nordic origins go way back: it pretty much rhymes with 'feisty'.

We had been told that Portpatrick, on the east coast of the Rhins peninsula, was a traditional fishing cove, so we were eager to go and investigate. What a beautiful spot ... and with four Tysties in the harbour, splashing about in the evening sunshine.

I hope the photos below make you smile: we love to watch these charismatic seabirds!

We were just leaving the harbour to catch the sunset round the corner when we saw all four birds together: what a lovely sight!

It was a cool evening, but the sunset heralded yet another remarkably sunny day.

Northern Holiday 2018, Post 3: The Mull of Galloway in Scotland

We love places 'on the edge', and the Mull of Galloway in Scotland at the southern tip of the Rhins peninsula qualifies as just such a location. If you are wondering about the destinations on the signpost above, we reckon the Lands End sign has had a bit of a turn!

The peninsula is about 30 miles in length. We stopped here at this beach near Ardwell for a picnic lunch, and enjoyed watching some swimmers with their floating gear. 

There were a number of Six-spot Burnet moths hatching out and flying around, which was lovely to see as lepidoptera had been conspicuous by their absence this year in some places. The Six-spot is one of the day-flying moth species on the Big Butterfly Count chart.

It was soon time to head down to the lighthouse. It marks Scotland's most southerly point, just as the one at the Lizard marks the most southerly point of Cornwall. The Galloway lighthouse has 115 steps to the top, and I am quite prepared to take that on trust! The lighthouse was built in 1830 by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of the writer Robert Louis. Ballantrae, as in The Master of Ballantrae, is a bit further round the coast towards Ayr.

The Mull of Galloway has a resident population of Rose Chafer beetles. These scarab-like insects shine with iridescence and can be found on the thistles and umbellifers like Hogweed that grow in this area. It took me some time to locate one of these beetles, but once I had got my eye in, we saw quite a few. In some lights they looked bronze and in others, a bright viridian green. The 'aurata' in the scientific nomenclature, Cetonia aurata, presumably implies a glint of gold. These insects always remind me of the Rose-Beetle Man in My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell! You might be interested in a post about these strange creatures on The Cabinet of Curiosities blog. Some years ago the RSPB produced a Rose Chafer pin-badge, but I don't think it is available any more.

 As we made our way towards the lighthouse, we saw a Linnet in the distance ...

There were drifts of cotton-grass in the boggy areas...

... and Goldfinches in among the thistles.

The path to the RSPB Visitor Centre...

 ... takes you this way, through a sheltered dip in the landscape.

It proved a good spot for Common Blue butterflies. 

You can see the RSPB Centre top right. 

There are a few artefacts on display at the lighthouse. This Bible caught my eye: it was provided by the Northern Lighthouse Board for the Ailsa Craig lighthouse off the Ayrshire coast. The lighthouse keeper's life must have been a lonely and difficult one at times, and I imagine members of the Board decided to provide spiritual reading material for its staff in much in the same way that the Gideons distribute Bibles for patients in hospital today.

David saw a puffin here at the Mull on a previous visit. We failed to see any this time around, but there were plenty of Guillemots on the cliff ledges way down below us. 

My next holiday post will include their black cousins, or Tysties, which we saw up the coast on the western side of The Rhins peninsula at Portpatrick.