The First Swallow

There's something a little special about this place, where the ancient coast track emerges into the open fields from the woodlands that surround Dunrobin Castle. It was here that I sat and watched three buzzards wheel over the treetops on a cold day back in February - post here - and it was where, today....

....on a bank just the other side of the old wall - now largely replaced by barbed-wire fencing - we spotted....

....the first primroses of spring. There are plenty of primroses and primulas in people's gardens but these are different, being wild and not planted by anyone.

Most of the early spring flowers - dandelions, lesser celandines, daffodils and primroses - are yellow, and therefore it was even more special when....

....just inside the woodland, near the gate, we found the first violets of spring, albeit a single plant with no signs of any others.

Then, as if on this day our cup was going to run over, high above we spotted the first swallow of 2020.

This is an early swallow. In an average year the first swallows - usually males - have arrived in the south of England by the end of March, so this one has done well to be in northern Scotland by today.