It's the last day of July, high summer, yet we're under the annoyingly persistent influence of a brisk, gusty northwester that makes the air temperature, currently 16C, feel much colder. It's really a day for a walk in the protection of the forestry but I wanted an open view so I climbed the hill at the back of the village with....
....its panorama of the Dornoch Firth, hoping, all the time, that it wouldn't come on to rain.
We complain that there aren't enough of these, comfortable boulders just the right size to sit on to enjoy the view, but this one was both convenient and interesting: the dark patch is a xenolith, a piece of the local rock caught up by the intrusive granitic magma as it rose into the crust, but only half melting it.
We're so fortunate to have a choice of walks like this starting from our front door, a walk upon which I saw not another soul. Nor was there much in the way of wildlife, though I spent some minutes watching....
....this bumblebee as it fought the gusts in its attempts to access the bell heather flowers.
There's been a good crop of wild raspberries on the bushes along the verges but it's noticeable that the best are over. It's like so many things - the raspberries have done well this year but they seem to be over early, and....
....it's certainly true that the thistles have done well - this is a Scottish thistle.
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