Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles

I made a shortish visit to the Brae area of Raasay today to update some old plant records i.e. try to re-find some more of the things I recorded before 2000. This was reasonably successful given the time of year, but I also spotted a couple of insects and a fungus worth mentioning.

I have seen four specimens of the Green Parasitic Fly (Gymnocheta viridis) in the past couple of weeks, but today I spotted another tachinid that may be Botria subalpina, a fly first recorded in the British Isles, in NW Scotland, in 1994. There are still only 13 records on NBN, all in the Highlands, one of which was at my home three years ago. If right, and that will have to wait until I see Murdo at the end of the month, this will be a second 10km square on Raasay where it is known.

Tachinid

I also spotted a Violet Oil-Beetle (Meloe violaceus), the second in less than a week seen on Raasay as Jonathan and Sarah found one at the far north end last Tuesday. One has to be careful to distinguish this from Meloe proscarabaeus – a useful guide is here. There are about as many Raasay records as there are Skye records, so may be something to look out for across the water.

Meloe violaceus

The fungus is worth mentioning because now is the time of year to find it:

Celandine Clustercup Rust (Uromyces dactylidis)

Tags: Fungi, Insects, Plants

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