St Combs: a walk over the bents

Grey Granite and Rufus took advantage of a dry day to revisit a favourite haunt. The walk from St Combs along the back of the bents to the outflow from Strathbeg then back along the beautiful, usually deserted, beach is tranquil and always full of interest. The unspoilt dune habitat supports a rich flora and there is  a large population of rabbits to interest Rufus.

There have been  recent reports that the unseasonable weather has posed a threat to many forms of wild life, especially butterflies and moths. It was reassuring  to encounter a small group of Dark Green Fritillaries flying above a clump of Marsh Thistle and  a pair of Six Spot Burnet moths on an orchid as well as several smaller rapidly flying species which Grey Granite was unable to identify.

Longheaded poppies (Paved terbium) 


The meadow  between the Tufted Duck and the track from Boatlea down to the shore  is part of the RSPB  Loch of Strathbeg Reserve and is managed appropriately to provide optimum conditions for  wildlife. A selective herbicide was being applied to eliminate ragwort when we passed through it. The long meadow grass contains many species of wildflower including these beautiful poppies.

 
The path across the bents is defined by a daisy trail, one of the of myriad rabbit burrows is to the left of the path.

There are wide swathes of 
Heartsease pansies (Viola tricolor) in the dry sandy areas of short grass along the length of the bents. Close to the outflow from Strathbeg there is a single sprawl of wild thyme. 

A Dark Green Fritillary on Marsh Thistle, described by Patrick Barkham in his delightful book, 'The Butterfly Isles' as a majestic butterfly, this species has a penchant for purple flowers.

Six Spot Burnet moth on a particularly majestic Northern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza  purpurella). The food plant for the moth caterpillars, birds' foot trefoil, abounds on drier sections of the bents. In wetter areas there is meadowsweet and a dense carpet of marsh pennywort and spearwort with the occasional orchid and cuckoo flower.

 The tide was just starting to recede by the time we arrived at the  shore near the Strathbeg outflow  so we had to walk round the edge of the shallow Lagoon. On previous visits we have judged the state of the tide more accurately and have been able to walk directly across the sand. There were terns and kittiwakes on the Lagoon, sand martins accompanied us back along the beach, swooping under the steep edge of the dunes.