Rotted roots and a frog throb

Today I've been digging out rotted roots of big fuchsia plants. Also healthy ones. I'm removing the fuchsias from the centre of the garden's north triangle where the pond is. My spade went right through a huge rotted mass of fuchsia root. I found a frog hiding in among the stems so I picked it up and moved it to safety. It gave my hands a kick—frog throb.

The pond water seems to evaporate quickly these days. It could be the transpiration of the Greater Spearwort plants that a neighbour gave me last year. So the water is shallow but the frogspawn is deep. It's piled at the northern end of the pond this year. In previous years most of it has always been at the south end.

Between root diggings and tuggings, I sat upon my sheepskin sit-upon-ery on the garden wall, sipping tea. When I picked up the sit-upon-ery when clearing things away, I found a ladybird sitting upon the waterproof side. 

It was frosty here this morning but comparatively warm in the sunshine ~11°C while I was digging. Lovely weather. More of the same, please.

Lophocolea Stump Part 3

I had an enjoyable morning bumbling about on the south slope of the garden. I saw my first two bees of the year foraging in the gorse that grows against the den (Toad calls it his studio).

First bee I've seen; spot the spider also.

Between scything swathes of the main Whorled Caraway patch, I took some pics of the old spruce stump that I nicknamed the Lophocolea Stump on account of this liverwort covering its top surface. More about that can be seen here in an old post. Below are some of today's photos showing its progress or rotting down, breaking down and being broken down–magpies in particular seem to like jabbing at it.


Whorled Caraway leaf and the patch I scythed and raked. It will fill with pignut flowers and then whorled caraway as the year progresses.


What's growing on the stump. I need to gen up on moss names. There are at least four mosses including a polytrichum, what I think is Common Tamarisk Moss, Springy Turf Moss, as well as Heath Bedstraw.


The west and east faces of the stump today:

Birds on Bute

Yesterday Toad and I met up with other members of the Argyll Bird Club to go to Bute and do some bird spotting. We had views of Arran most of the day and no rain except for a wee spot or two early on at Colintraive ferry.

Arran from Bute

There is a (probably incomplete) list below of birds seen. I did not see every one of those, just most. The Water Rail and Coot were heard and recognised by others. At the Quien Bird Hide I seem to remember a moorhen in the reeds, but maybe that was the coot! Other people compiled the lists.

I did not attempt to take photos of birds, just of scenery, and some of these are below to give a feel for the sort of places we were looking for birds.

Scalpsie Beach

I enjoyed the different kinds of sand that the island has:

Shame about plastic everywhere but it was somewhat encouraging to see lichen and moss colonising the plastic rope handrails of the board walk over the mud to the hide at Quien Loch.