Last Sunday a young otter was exploring our garden – something we have never seen before, though we see them beyond the garden on the shore and in the sea. There has been a Great Northern Diver in the bay for some time and, as it is May, we can hear cuckoos.
I managed to identify a harvestman – probably the easiest to recognise with its spiky headdress:
Megabunus diadema
and Bruce kindly identified a fungus for me that is growing on dead Euphorbia griffithii (Griffith’s Spurge) stems as Phomopsis euphorbiae. It is not the most photogenic of things, but there are only two records on NBN Atlas one of which is in Scotland by Murdo – identified by Bruce a few years ago.
Phomopsis euphorbiae
Last night’s moth trap was very limited, but gave me my first Pale-shouldered Brocade of the year.
Pale-shouldered Brocade
The Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum) is nearly in flower:
Tutsan in bud
and I found evidence of sharks in the garden.
Lesser-spotted Dogfish Egg Case
The egg case of what is now officially known as the small-spotted catshark, will have been brought in with seaweed used to fertilise the vegetable beds, it has not decomposed over the winter as has most of the seaweed.
Plants of Skye, Raasay & The Small Isles 
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