Gob na h-Oa (The Tip of Oa, if that helps) is a point west of Fiskavaig partly in tetrad NG33C, which until yesterday had a mere 29 plant taxa recorded. There are now 138. It is 92% sea but the land has some nice cliffs with Anthyllis vulneraria (Kidney Vetch) and Rubus saxatilis (Stone Bramble) and there are good colonies of Honckenya peploides (Sea Sandwort) and Populus tremula (Aspen).
The sea caves are good:
and there were moths about including lots of Yellow Shells:
Yellow Shell
I dropped down into Camas Aird an t-Sabhail to look for Carex arenaria (Sand Sedge), a rare plant on Skye and last recorded there in 1977. I am pleased to report a thriving population:
Carex arenaria (Sand Sedge)
On the way home I stopped at Sligachan to look for Hammarbya paludosa (Bog Orchid) – success: 9 plants – and Rhynchospora fusca (Brown Beak-sedge) – total failure.
There were also more grasshoppers about than we usually see on Skye or Raasay. It seems to be a good year for them here.
Chorthippus parallelus (Meadow grasshopper)
The short wings are useful in the determination. It was released after the photoshoot – no grasshoppers were harmed in the making of this blog.
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles 
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