Wildlife Galleries

Arran has a wide variety of wildlife which I enjoy photographing, and I have included some of my pictures in the galleries below. Many of the photos were taken here at the Dyemill Lodges site, and in the surrounding forest. Although we keep the areas immediately around the lodges as mowed lawns, we also have areas of natural woodland which has a wide variety of plant and animal life.

As you will see, I rather enjoy close-ups, and sometimes of the more unusual!! I hope you enjoy them.

Sue Archer

Birds

Swallow feeding babies in the garage at Dyemill
Buzzard hunting from a telephone pole along the Ross Road
A cormorant and heron share a rock on the shoreline
Songthrush hunting for insects and worms
A merganser swimming against the current in the river at Lochranza
Stonechat using the top of one of the Machrie standing stones as a look-out point
Mute swan in the shallows along Shore Road, Lamlash
A family of swans in the middle of Lamlash Bay photographed from a kayak
A heron flys by along the shore at Lamlash
Gulls in a feeding frenzy over fish scraps
A siskin in a tree in our garden at Dyemill
Baby swallows first day out of the nest, waiting for food in our garage at Dyemill
A robin in the snow in the Dyemill Forest

Animals

Red Deer stag in Lochranza
Common seal found around Arran's coasts
Red squirrel in a tree in our garden
A close-up of a snail with a buttercup
A day flying Pipestrelle bat
The face of a common toad peering through a glass having been rescued from a hen!
The amazing skin colour and texture of a common toad
Wild Eriskay ponies on Holy Isle in Lamlash bay. Photo by Jay Sherwin
Wild Soay sheep on Holy Isle in Lamlash bay
A frog in a pond in the Dyemill Forest
Red squirrel running across our garden
A common seal on a rock - a vital rest to enable proper digestion of its food

Butterflies, Moths & Insects

Bumble bee on a thistle flower
Ground beetles found by the path in Dyemill forest
Female orange tip butterfly which has black rather than orange tips to her wings
A hoverfly feeding in a rambling rose
An Alder moth caterpillar found on the Dyemill site
A honeybee feeding on hawthorn blossom
Unidentified bug on the table in our garden
Painted Lady butterfly on buddleia
Horntail above Corrie Lochan
Large Emerald Moth found on the Dyemill site
southern Hawker dragonfly resting in our garden
Close up of a dragonfly's face
Red Admiral butterfly on buddleia
Caterpillar of a Drinker moth - Philudoria potatoria - found in Glen Rosa
Cinnabar moth caterpillar on ragwort
The face of a Painted Lady, you can see she's missing some of her wing, but was still able to fly perfectly well.
Caterpillar of a Dagger moth found in our garden
A Herald moth on ripening blackberries
A hover fly resting on the table in our garden
Small Copper butterfly on ragwort at Cleats Shore
The face of a Large Emerald moth found at Dyemill
Small Tortoishell butterfly on our drive
A rare visit from a Pearl Bordered Fritillary butterfly
The distinctive Peacock butterfly on budleia

Under Water

Moon jelly taken from a kayak, the reflection is on the surface from below.
A Moon jelly swimming by my kayak
A Lionsmain jelly taken in the shallows just off Cordon beach
Small fish in a rockpool at Sandbraes
A prawn posing for the camera - lovely yellow knees!
A Hermit crab in a winkle shell in a rockpool at Sandbraes
Common starfish in a rockpool heading for the shelter of the weeds
Beadlet anemone in a rockpool at Sandbraes
Looking straight down from my kayak, 2 Common and 1 Sand starfish
A toad checking me out in a pond in Dyemill forest
Two strings of toad spawn - frog spawn was close-by in the same pool
Developing toad tadpoles taken alongside the jelly strings
A single develping toad tadpole taken from below, the light through the jelly and trapped air bubbles making a it a very alien image!
A mass of hatched frog tadpoles feeding within the remains of the mass of jelly

Wild Plants & Flowers

Bell Heather in the rain
Bell Heather in the Dyemill forest
The lantern flower of a Bilberry
The blue fruit of the Bilberry
A mass of bluebells, a wonderful site in the springtime
Close-up of a Bluebell
A stand of Bulrushes in a pond in the Dyemill forest
A Celendine flower with a visitor
Red Campion from an unusual angle
Coltsfoot flowers growning in the Dyemill forest, the flowers appearing before the leaves
Coltsfoot produces wind distributed "clock" seedheads similar to Dandelions
A Yellow Iris in a pond in the Dyemill forest
The true Heather, growing all over the hills and mountains of Arran
Yellow Hawkweed growing in our hen paddock
Close-up of a Foxglove flower
The vivid flowers of an Orange Hawkweed in our garden
The pink bell flowers of the Cross-Leaved Heath a close releative of Heather.
Marsh Marigolds growing like giant Buttercups on the Dyemill site
Close-up of a Marsh Orchid taken on the Arran hills.
Rosebay Willowherb flowers in close-up
Lousewort - not very pretty name for something so similar to an orchid!
Masses of Snowdrops appear on Arran cheering up the winter days
An interesting plant with very Thistle-like flowers but without the thorns
A close-up of a small delicate Violet flower growing in our lawn
Selfheal growing in our hen padock
Close-up of a Wood-sorrel flower growing in the Dyemill forest
A classic Thistle flower
A Thistle seedhead or "clock" against a summer sky

Trees & Shrubs

Masses of Hawthorn or May blossom against the sky
A damp carpet of autumn beech leaves
Close-up of the tiny yet beautiful Hazel flower
Close-up of some Gorse flowers, sady you can't smell the amazing coconut scent in a photo!
An autumn avenue of mature beech trees tucked away in the Dyemill forest
The male Hazel flowers or catkins, not yet open
A Hawthorn leaf breaking open in spring
The beautiful Salmonberry flower, a very invasive member of the raspberry family
A close-up showing the amazing mauve leaf bud of a Birch tree
Wild Hypericum flowers - or St Johns Wort, now used a lot in herbal medicine
Ripening Hazelnuts in the Dyemill forest
Close-up of Hawthorn blossom
Scarlet Rowen berries against a late summer sky
A Sycamore leaf bursting from its bud
Blossom of a wild or hybrid Cherry in the Dyemill forest.

Ferns, Lichens & Mosses

Yellow Splash lichen- xanthoria parietina - found on many sea-shore rocks
A close-up of a King Fern frond as it begins to unfurl
A King Fern unfurling its fronds
One of 10 types of Sphagnum moss
A King fern growing in the Dyemill site
Ramalina cuspidata lichen with Yellow Splash lichen
Usnea ceratina growing on Hawthorn
A mix of mosses growing together
Sphagnum moss cushions near The Uri Loch
A pink variety of Sphagnum moss
A shaggy type of moss growing in the Dyemill forest
A lot of trees in the forests are covered in long drooping beards of moss

Fungi

Many-zoned Polypore - Coriolus versicolor
Birch Poyypore - Piptoporus betulinus
Lenzites betulina
Chanterelle - Cantharellus cibarius - distinctive and delicious!
Gymnopilus junonius....I think!
The Blusher - Amanita rubescens photographed in Dyemill forest
Shaggy Pholiota - Pholiota squarrosa growing on the Dyemill site
Hypholoma capnoides - found on a rotting log
Fleecy Milk-cap - Lactarius vellereus - a funnel the size of a small dinner plate.
Mature honey fungus - Armillaria mellea - on a fallen stump
Classic bootlaces of Honey Fungus -Armillaria mellea - exposed on a log used by badgers as a scratching post
Otodea alutacea
Russula Puellaris
Shaggy Ink Cap or Lawyer's Wig - coprinus comatus - about to unfurl
Shaggy Ink Cap or Lawyer's Wig - coprinus comatus - close-up from below as it begins to disovle into ink
Meadow Wax Cap - Hygrocbe pratensis - in the garden lawn.
A close-up of white slime mould - Myxomycetes - on a rotting log showing its tiny bobbles of fruiting bodies.

Isle of Arran

Wildlife Galleries