Monday, June 05, 2023
Beinn Liath Mhor a' Ghiubhais Li
As we began our walk just after eight o' clock this morning, I thought I could hear, off and on, the faint bleating sound of a snipe from the opposite direction to the one we were taking; but though we scanned for some minutes we never got onto the bird. The tops were hidden by a cloud layer, and this would persist until we reached the summit.
Ahead of us, a cuckoo was calling from the plantation but, like the snipe, it remained elusive. Goldcrest and chaffinch were heard, and coal tit and willow warbler were seen. Only meadow pipits were evident on the steep heathery slope above the trees, and as we approached the peat hags we heard the anxious calls of golden plover. Mindful of nests or young, we walked carefully until we'd left their territory.
At last we were on rocky ground, and there I caught sight of some tiny pink flowers. I hoped this would be trailing (wild) azalea which I've wanted to see for some time - and that's what it turned out to be. In the UK it's found only on Scottish mountains, growing around 1200ft and above.
Then I noticed a larger patch with some fruits showing - while Greger spotted a ptarmigan, some distance off to our left.
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The ptarmigan began to make its way up the hillside and Greger pointed out a second bird to the right, which also walked away and was gradually swallowed up in the mist.
We walked through a patch of cloudberry. Some have finished flowering to reveal the sepals; on a female plant, the sepals will later enfold the developing fruit - but, for all my reading-up on the subject, I can't say for sure whether the plant in the picture is male or female! I find it much easier to tell with bogbean flowers.
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I think they are all male flowers. Reading up on this afterwards, I learnt that stands of cloudberry often consist of just male flowers (sitkanature.org) so that seems to make sense.
We reached the summit in cloud and found a soft mossy ledge for lunch. I spotted a ptarmigan on the skyline - although it might well have been one of the two that Greger had already spotted.
As we started to make our way down, the sky cleared to give us the fine views we've become so familiar with.
We looked across to other tops, reminiscing about past walks and regretting hills we would probably never climb now. Noting a couple of patches of snow still on Am Faochagach, I recalled seeing a dunlin in display flight near the summit in May 2018.....
.....while to the west, snow also lingered on Sgurr Mor and other Fannichs.
Greger didn't bring his posh camera today, so he used his smartphone to take this picture on the tedious lower slopes that take us down to the track.
This was my ninth ascent of this Corbett - Greger's eighth. It will probably be our last - but you never know! Also noted on the walk: butterwort in flower, a mauve orchid of some kind (possibly heath-spotted), a botfly, and some lovely little fish (brown trout, I think) in the river at end of the walk. Oh, and one other bit of wildlife which I brought home with me - a tick! It was my second of the summer and made my heart sink - is it going to be another Year of the Tick? Give me midges any day!
// posted by Christine @ 10:35 AM 
