Spinning spider

Eigg is one of the few locations in Scotland where the Daddy-Longlegs Spider, Pholcus phalanginoides, has been found.

In Britain this spider is quite common in the south, but is only found indoors, though it may be found in caves on the continent. It has an unusual defence mechanism; if disturbed, it rotates its body at great speed so that it becomes blurred.

We found these spiders in the house on Eigg where we were staying last year, and again this year. This year I managed to make a couple of videos of them using this defence behaviour in response to my hitting the wall close to their webs:

By slowing down the videos, I was able to discover that the spider in the first video rotated about 8 times per second and the second at about 5 times a second.

It is sometimes stated that these spiders are one of the most poisonous spiders in the world, but their fangs are too short to penetrate human skin. Fortunately this is a myth. For more information see
http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

Eigg animals

We have just returned from a holiday on Eigg.

Actually the first week wasn't supposed to be a holiday, as we were looking after a whole lot of animals for some friends who live there and were going away.

First, there was Culach, the dog

and Rosie the cat

who helped to look after the goldfish.

Then there were two pigs,

two goats,

four geese,

five ducks (of which this is the youngest)

and lots of hens, bantams and guineafowl.

Fortunately both they and we survived the experience.

We spent the second week in peace and quiet at the other end of the island.

Portencross

Two weeks ago we decided to go to the coast and look for some of the coastal flowers now out. The rocks were covered in flowers, particularly Bloody Cranesbill, Bird's Foot Trefoil, Sea Campion and Thrift.

Bloody Cranesbill (Geranium sanguineum - below) is native along this part of the coast, though it also occurs as a garden escape.

This was the first Small Tortoiseshell butterfly we had seen this year.

Another Tortoiseshell butterfly had alighted on some Thrift (Armeria maritima). Although Thrift is most often a coastal plant, it can also be found growing on alpine ledges in the hills.

Sea Spurrey (Spergularia sp.) was growing along the edges of the shore.

Birdsfoot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) was exceptionally brightly coloured, with more orange flowers than usual.

Red Campion (Silene dioica)

This was only the second time I had seen Navelwort (Umbilicus rupestris) in Scotland. It grows mostly in the west of the UK, often near the coast.

The leathery pointed leaves of Sea Sandwort (Honckenya peploides) formed large patches near the top of the beach.