Alarmingly, the year is flying by and it is now June – so I thought in this blog post I would look back on the wild flowers on our particular corner of Mull in May. Our spring has been a beautiful one – we have had mild weather and not too much rain, with lots of sunshine too. So the wild flowers have been exceptional. Every day I can, I have been out walking in different parts of the farm, and there is always something new to see.
Of particular pleasure to us (given the pain of the cost to the bank balance!) is the sight of the areas of the farm which are now free of bracken, following the aerial bracken control we undertook last summer. It was done quite late in the summer, and we were concerned that it might not work, but the control has been very successful, particularly in the Coronation Meadow – the field beside the Haunn Cottages – and down below the farmhouse and the Treshnish Cottages.
Farmer will still cut bracken in areas that he can reach by tractor and weed wipe in areas he can get the quad bike too, but there are many spots where to cut mechanically would mean destroying the plants (in many places rare and wonderful orchids et cetera) so aerial control becomes the only alternative.
This is the view from just outside Toechtamhor Cottage looking up towards the Isle of Rum.
There are Common Twayblade in the field below the house, dozens and dozens of them. And they are appearing in areas where we haven’t seen them before. There are lots more photographs of other wild flowers on the Haunn blackhouse blog – plus a lamb or two.
