A Far North Naturalist

Name: A Far North Naturalist
Address: Strath Halladale, Forsinard, KW136YT, GB
Telephone: +447864322776

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A Far North Naturalist

Nature guide for hire, visiting sites of special interest in north Sutherland. With 40 years experience in nature conservation. Fully insured. Contact me!

This is my photographic diary. I’m an ecology graduate with 35 years working in nature conservation for The Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB and local authorities.

22/08/2026

Great to see migrating wading birds on our local shores, heading south after spending the summer way further north. Lots of Sanderling, Dunlin and Ringed Plover on Thurso beaches at the moment. Most of these birds here are juveniles, undertaking their first migration, alone. Thousands of miles, many coming from the high arctic! Amazing.

03/08/2026

I had yet another lovely wander into the hills in search of rare and scarce wild flowers yesterday. The severe exposure this far north means that ‘Arctic-Alpine’ plants grow within easy reach, as opposed to on mountaintops elsewhere in Britain. I didn’t find my main targets in flower, I was severely hampered by the midges, so I’ll have to make another trip in a few weeks’ time… Lovely scenery as always. Heather is starting to bloom and, as usual, it flowers earlier higher up. Dark Green Fritillary butterflies were plentiful, visiting the heather, as were bumblebees.

27/07/2026

Lots of hoverflies on the wing now, with many being very showy indeed. I’ve been seeing these two ‘bee mimic’ species, Volucella bombylans (the one pictured here was dead in a spider’s web!) and V. pellucens (here on Buddleia). Both are quite convincing and successfully enter the nests of bumblebees to lay their eggs. The larvae feed on the scraps of ‘waste’ in the nests.

25/07/2026

Oh well, autumn beckons, that’s the last of the orchid species to flower up here: the extremely variable Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine), in its very isolated most northerly location. Thoroughly splendid. I suppose it would be silly of me to say ‘roll on springtime’…

22/07/2026

I managed to get back to the super Bog Orchid area I had discovered a few days ago, this time with my decent camera with the intention of photographing the large group of plants. As you might have expected… some had been partly eaten! Disappointing to say the least. I need another cage.
I chose to get some pics of a lone plant. They’re so delicate looking, the petals being just a few cells thick and the light penetrating through. Amazing little things. I also found more Bog Beacons. A fascinating world in miniature.

20/07/2026

Another day of discovery with Helga and Dennis, thank you both so very much for joining me again. This time into the Ben Griams SSSI in search of wild things in this very wild place. We were a little late for most of the Arctic-Alpine flowers, but fruits and berries were plentiful. The midges, mosquitoes and horseflies were briefly troubling at times, but hey! We had a proper adventure. Why not join me sometime and push your boundaries… if I can do it, you can!

18/07/2026

Oof! Today, rather like most days, I found myself in CyPerspace and wasn’t disappointed, finding lots of my favourite member of the family Cyperaceae - the White Beak-sedge. But I was way more delighted to find clumps of orchids. Not Dark Red Helleborine this time, but Bog Orchid. Not one plant with many stems, but lots of individual plants tightly packed together on little mossy islets. 34 flowering, and others not. It was late this evening when I found them, so didn’t manage to take any decent photos. I’ll be back!

17/07/2026

Siskins are very active at the moment, in family groups and mostly in the treetops, favouring Sitka Spruce. These small gatherings will soon coalesce and form large flocks. It's shocking to think that autumn isn't far away, when these birds will be joined by others arriving from northern Europe for the winter. This male was enjoying some peace, eating the seeds of Marsh Thistle.

16/07/2026

Seabirds 15 July 2026
What a super visit to ‘seabird city’ with Helga and Dennis (thank you for the photos!). Many thousands of auks and Kittiwakes (and their chicks) giving fantastic views. Mesmerising. Sounds and smells most memorable too. Puffins galore. We even had a flypast by a pair of Great Skuas, who were ‘eying us up’, and almost close enough to touch.
We watched a family of Ravens and it reminded me of one bird when I was Warden on Skokholm, that we rescued from its nest after it became entangled in fishing line that the adults had used to construct the nest with. Sadly its feet had become deformed. The RSPCA team who’d abseiled down the cliff to free it said it would be best to euthanise it. No! We put it in a cage and fed it, but the calls of its parents as they searched for it were heartbreaking. So we released it. Within minutes the adults were with it and clearly overjoyed! Over the weeks and months that followed, the youngster - that was thriving - regularly landed beside my wife and I when we were walking around the island, and spoke to us as Ravens do. It even brought us ‘gifts’, dropping them at our feet! Join me one day to hear more of this story and many others!

14/07/2026

A few flowers and dragonflies from loch and loch side. Cool on a warm summer day. Always a pleasure to see Water Lobelia.
Also Knotted Pearlwort and Golden-ringed Dragonflies. What a fabulous time of year. Tomorrow, a visit to the seabird city, where Puffins will be busy delivering lots of fish to chicks.

Address

Strath Halladale
Forsinard
KW136YT

Telephone

+447864322776

Website

https://geai25.wixsite.com/far-north-naturalist

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