Wild Flowers

I have just posted a gallery of wild flower pictures on my Skye Picture Blog - here (click the link). They were all taken within half a mile of Roskhill Barn yesterday afternoon. Here's a sample of one of the pictures:

Northern Marsh Orchid

The roadsides all over Skye are massed with tall grasses and wild flowers at the moment. They all seem to have done even better this year than in previous years - the weather conditions must have helped - we had a mild winter and spring, and no strong winds at all.

There is greater diversity of plant life on the roadsides than on the moorland a few yards back from the road. This must in part be due to the passing traffic helping to distribute seeds, but other factors maybe the disturbance of the soil when the roads were built (here, the main road was built in about 1965), and fences which keep the moorland sheep away from the flowering plants. For safety reasons, to improve visibility, the verges are generally mown later in the summer, but the plants flowering now will have set seed by then. I think this helps with diversity too, as there don't seem to be as many flowering plants in places where the mowing doesn't happen - but the grasses look amazing!

25th June, Roskhill

The moorland is all greener than ever too. It's a fabulous time of year!