The picture above, taken on Eigg, just might be star jelly, but the quantity was extremely small and I had noticed what appeared to be slime moulds several times in the previous couple of days, so I think it is most likely that this is also a slime mould. In the picture below, there is a slightly yellowish fruiting body, and behind it and out of focus is some pure jelly, and I think it most likely that this consists only of the slime mould.
One of the commonest and most likely theories about star jelly is that it is frog spawn, most likely rejected by a bird which was eating the frog. Birds dropping this from a height could be the reason why the jelly was thought to come from the stars.
In the picture above, there are black eggs to the right of the jelly, and a cluster of eggs can also be seen in the picture below.
Unlike the other pictures which were taken in the autumn, those with eggs were taken in March.
Read "Star Jelly Mystery solved on iSpot" for more information about the frogspawn theory, though this doesn't explain why star jelly is most commonly found in the autumn rather than the spring.
We had to put up barricades at the doors to stop Arnold from coming into the house. He is now a full grown ram and could do a lot of damage if he got in.
The geese are now full grown.
There are two new additions - a mother goat and her kid.
In addition, there were bats living in the roof of the house where we were staying. One evening I went to an upstairs window to watch them emerge at dusk. Unfortunately one of the first to emerge somehow managed to come into the room by mistake and flew in circles around me. Later, although I had shut the upstairs door, we found it lying on the floor downstairs. Fortunately it was unharmed, and later flew off outside.
Calluna vulgaris, Heather, or Ling, is the commonest species.
In the picture below it is mixed with the darker flowers of another common species - Bell Heather (Erica cinerea).
A third species found very commonly, though perhaps not in quite such large quantities, is Cross-leaved Heath (Erica tetralix). The two flowers on the right in the picture below are Cross-leaved Heath, while the flower on the left is Bell Heather.
The ordinary Heather, or Ling, also comes in a great many colour variants. The two plants in the picture below are the same species.
Occasionally you can find "lucky" white heather.
All these photos were taken on the Isle of Eigg during this September.
A few days later, we visited a friend who lives in the north of the island. She put out some corn for the birds, and a group of rock doves flew down to feed.
These are the wild birds from which domesticated pigeons were bred. The two have interbred, and pure wild birds are now only found on the west and north coasts of Scotland and Ireland.
The wild version has two black wingbars and a white rump which mostly only shows when the bird is in flight.
Ten days later these flowers had been eaten, but the plant had produced another flower and bud.And how about an Easter bunny?
We hunted around for other plants of interest and these seemed to be most abundant along a narrow band of crags which were presumably calcareous. They included Luzula spicata, perched on a ledge with a view of hills to the east.
The yellow heads of Roseroot (Sedum rosea) were easy to spot and a good indicator of likely ledges as it frequently had rare species as companions. It had been growing on the ledge where I found the first Alpine Saxifrage.
Towards the end of the day we found a rather unusual Buttercup with a mixture of shiny and hairy leaves and an unusually large flower.
Further research suggests that this is likely to be a rather rare variety of Meadow Buttercup - Ranunculus acris var. pumilus - which has only previously been found on the Cairngorms and Skye in the UK. Once again, we will need to return for further verification of its identity.
This isolated tree and those behind it look quite autumnal.
Many trees lost all or many of their leaves.
Ash trees in particular were left bare.
Closer examination showed that most trees, including this ash, were beginning to sprout new shoots.
On the west coast of the peninsula, all the leaves of the trees were totally brown.
Even in more sheltered places, many leaves were damaged.
This rose had shrivelled leaves, but the flowers were unaffected.
The picture below shows the windward west side of a hedge.
On the east side of the same hedge, the leaves were protected and remained green.
An isolated tree which had been stripped nearly bare of leaves.
An ash tree with few remaining leaves, despite being in a more sheltered position on the east side of the peninsula.
Another bare tree by the shore.
Brown trees along the main coastal road at Helensburgh.
Today we went further inland, well away from the coast. Even here, many trees were browned, with fallen branches lying along the verges.
Below - Copper beech leaves from far inland showing storm damage.
