A beautiful evening to be at Knockan Cliffs, one of my very favourite places in the UK. There's just so much happening here apart from the spectacular scenary. It's one of the top geological sites in the world, where rocks such as Lewisian Gneiss, one of the oldest rocks in the world, overlap with younger rocks such as limestone due to the actions of the Moine thrust. Associated with the geology is the flora, which includes limestone specialities such as mountain aven and holly fern growing alongside peat bog specialist, and the birds ain't half bad also. Today saw a male ring ouzel.
I have my own particular reasons for loving this place, it was the first place I visited in the North West Highlands with my Dad back in 1979 and my first ever diver of any species, a summer plumage red-throated was on the loch below the cliffs, Lochan an Ais.
Holly fern
Green spleenwort and brittle bladder fern
The hoverfly Syrphus ribessii on Yellow mountain saxifrage.
The hoverfly Sericomyia silentis
The limestone outcrop at Knockan Cliffs.
Suilvan
Looking towards Suilvan and Canisp.
Yellow mountain saxifrage
A distant An Teallach across Loch Broom on the drive back to Ullapool.
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