About
Argyll is something of a Mecca for wildlife. Situated in the south-west of Scotland, it is perhaps best known for its islands, each with its own unique characteristics and mix of flora and fauna. Less well known is the truly amazing habitat found mainly in the mainland areas, called the Celtic Rainforest. Those areas of native forest where mosses, ferns and lichens thrive in both abundance and variety due to the high annual rainfall. Argyll enjoys a climate dominated by the Atlantic Ocean and it enjoys a mild and relatively wet climate, with Oban, for example, recording an average of 1660mm of rain a year. With dragon and damselflies having an aquatic larval stage, the presence of numerous bodies of freshwater throughout the year provides an ideal breeding ground. These lochs and lochans together with some slow-flowing rivers are present in a wide variety of habitats such as broadleaved native woodlands, peat boglands and upland moors. This provides a wide range of freshwater habitats which in turn results in a wide diversity of dragon and damselfly species.
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The aim of this website is to showcase the work of local photographers in documenting the presence of these fascinating insects and at the same time highlighting their sheer beauty of form and colour. The 'Species Notes' that accompany the images are, by design, anecdotal and are not intended to replace or mimic the numerous excellent field guides that exist. Over time the site will develop and change as new material is added and, we hope, new discoveries are made.
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Introduction to Argyll
Argyll and Bute is bounded by the urban areas of Helensburgh and Dunoon along the Clyde, Loch Lomond to the East, the Mull of Kintyre to the south, Atlantic Islands to the west, and the Sound of Mull and Appin to the north.
Barryob / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)
The area’s population of 85,570 (National Records of Scotland's 2019 Mid-Year Population Estimates) is spread across the second largest local authority area in Scotland covering a land area of 690,946 hectares (Census 2011). Argyll and Bute has the fourth sparsest population density of the 32 Scottish local authorities, with an average population density of just 0.12 persons per hectare. This compares to a Scottish average of 0.70 persons per hectare (Mid-Year 2019 Population Estimates).
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17% of Argyll and Bute’s population live on islands. 52.7% live in settlements of 3,000 or more people; conversely, 47.2% of Argyll and Bute’s population live in settlements smaller than 3,000 people, or outwith settlements altogether. 80% of Argyll and Bute’s population live within 1km of the coast.
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Argyll and Bute has 23 inhabited islands, including Bute, Islay, Jura, Mull, Iona, Coll and Tiree, more than any other local authority in Scotland. The area is also home to Loch Awe (at 41 km, the longest freshwater loch in Scotland) and several long sea lochs, which bisect the landscape. The physical geography of the area has limited development of the road network in the area, and leads to high levels of reliance on ferries for travel.
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The importance of the natural environment is indicated by the 121 Sites of Special Scientific Interest that have been designated within the area. Combined, these cover almost 10% of Argyll and Bute’s land area. Additionally, almost 30% of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park area falls within the local authority’s boundaries.
(https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/info/introduction-argyll-and-bute)
The Photographers
Steve Carter
Steve has been taking wildlife and landscape photographs since he was a boy on his family's farm in Wiltshire. He studied Zoology with Environmental Biology at Queen Mary College, London University, before going on to be a Biology teacher and eventually a senior manager in 3 schools in England. He and his young family lived on Benbecula, in the Western Isles, for 7 years before they moved back to the mainland to live in Kilmartin in Mid-Argyll.
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Steve has travelled extensively to arctic regions such as Svalbard and Greenland as well as to warmer climes to places like Madagascar, Borneo and Northern Australia. Always with a camera and often leading groups of young people.
John Speirs
Originally from the central belt of Scotland, John moved to the Oban area some 20 years ago. He is passionate about wildlife and is well known for his extensive knowledge of local wildlife and also for his outstanding photographs of otters. John loves the West Coast of Scotland and the Scottish Isles, his favourite place being the spectacular and remote island of St Kilda.