Spring is in the air (5)
[This short item is the fifth and final in a series of observations on spring in Assynt 2024. The originals were posted on our Facebook page at the time.]
Wednesday 20th March must have been the best day, weather wise, of 2024 so far.
It was time to have a look at a few sites to check on how spring was progressing in Assynt.
An unplanned stop was at Loch an Ordain (Pollan). An immaculate adult Cormorant , Phalacrocorax carbo was perched on a large rock in the loch. The white thigh patches were clearly visible indicating that this bird was in breeding plumage.
First planned stop was the ‘Glack’ junction at the Lochinver end of the single-track road. Before taking any photos, we were welcomed by the sound of a Great Spotted Woodpecker ‘drumming’ somewhere in the trees towards the River Inver.
The Horse Chestnut tree, Aesculus hippocastanum near the junction had masses of as yet unopened sticky leaf buds. Next to it was a single Larch, Larix decidua which had both male and female flowers open and masses of bright green needle leaf tufts.
Toads
Next, we stopped at a small lochan near the ‘Battlefield’. This is a traditional breeding site for Common Toads, Bufo bufo. It was impossible to count them all but they were there in their hundreds.
Many were in amplexus, which is Latin for ’embrace’. This is when a male toad holds on to a female waiting to externally fertilise her eggs. The amount of spawn visible suggested things had been going well!
Toad spawn differs from frog spawn in that it is in chains rather than clumps. You can clearly see some obvious chains in the photo of the toads in amplexus. On the day the toads were fairly quiet. If you would like to listen to the sounds they make we made a recording last year for our ‘Sounds of Nature Project‘.
Final visit was to Little Assynt near the tree nursery. That end of the path is a fantastic spot to see, and a bit later smell, the Bog Myrtle, Myrica gale plants. Thousands of mainly male plants make for an amazing spectacle at this time of year. The unopened and opened catkins create a sea of dark red and with the sun out on Wednesday they were glowing.
So, it is clear that spring is definitely in the air. Sadly, Thursday’s and Friday’s weather had something else in the air! Lots and lots of rain and wind.
Oh well, it is only March.
David Haines
Spring is in the air (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)