Do
you recognise these images from anywhere? The answers to our New
Year Quiz are featured in the following two blog posts :-
Wine,
Birds and Song
Referred
to as the ‘Nightingale That Sang On Breadalbane Street’, the
cheeky and cheery Robin
is
one of only a few local birds that sing throughout the year. Heard
accompanying drunken late night revellers, as they make their way up
Prison Brae in Tobermory, the Robin is often disturbed into song
during the dark nights of Winter. Robins possess large eyes for such
a small bird and additional sensory receptors (rods) in their retinas
that allow them to see and forage in the dark, long after other birds
have gone to roost – 28/10/11
Of
Choice and Over Here
The
Sitka
Spruce,
a native of high rainfall areas in Western North America, is
well-suited to life on Mull and is the conifer of choice of local
forestry operators. When felled for commercial purposes, each tree
reveals a series of internal rings of woody tissue, from which it is
possible to gauge its age, as well as the differing environmental
conditions that the tree experienced during its life. These annular
rings provide a fascinating insight : during poor growing seasons the
ring that develops will not be as thick as one produced after a good
season. The rings on this tree are of a similar girth, suggesting
that the growing seasons on Mull during its lifetime were remarkably
similar and without great fluctuation – 10/07/11
Delicate
and In Decline
As
the only ‘Blue’ butterfly on Mull and Iona, the Common
Blue
(this is a male) is easily identified. It has suffered a long-term
decline and numbers emerging in Spring have greatly fluctuated in
recent years. These delicate insects are as highly sensitive as they
are beautiful and have evolved specialised adaptations to aid their
survival. The large eyes are made up of thousands of tiny lenses,
which supply the insect’s brain with a compound image of the world
in which they live. Although short-sighted, they are well-equipped to
detecting movement (of predators and rivals) and manoeuvring rapidly
in flight – 18/06/11
Fishy
Business
The
Isle of Mull and Iona has a very healthy population of Otters.
It has been suggested that as many as 120 territories are to be
located around the Isle of Mull’s 305 miles of coastline alone.
That a single territory may only be around 1 mile in length when
conditions are good also suggests that the islands’ may offer scope
for some expansion! An Otter’s calling card is its spraint, which
is defaecated at strategic points in its territory, signalling a
warning to other animals that this area is inhabited. Spraints
decompose relatively quickly in the Mull and Iona climate, but are
characteristically black and tar-like in consistency when fresh –
29/05/11
A
Deer Price To Pay
Recent
Winters have taken their toll on the Red
Deer
population on the Isle of Mull. Weak and sickly animals that may have
survived previously were culled by the inclement weather and those
that survived did so in a poor state of condition. However, this was
good news for eagles, buzzards, ravens and crows on the island, which
were served a welcome treat to help them get through the worst that
Mother Nature could throw at them during the cold, dark days of
Winter – 08/11/10
Answers
to New Year Quiz (Part One) : 1. Robin; 2. Annular Rings (Sitka
Spruce); 3. Common Blue; 4. Otter Spraint, and; 5. Red Deer (Stag)
Stuart
