Friday, August 28, 2020

A Late August Wander

A pair of buzzards have raised their young in the woodland to the north of our house. As we walked up to Beinn Bhraggie woods this morning we heard the chick crying, perhaps begging a parent for the food they no longer bring, but the parent was having none of it. You're on your own, junior!

The clearings are ablaze with the lilac flowers of the ling, and their sunlight is filled with.... 

....speckled woods. This species seems to have thrived this summer, as have the....

....common blues in the open environment of the links.

It's getting late in the year but there is a newcomer in both habitats, the very late-flowering devil's-bit scabious, a popular flower with insects. As we walked this morning we were looking out for the two colour variants and Mrs MW almost immediately spotted....

....a pink flower, which leaves us the rather beautiful white one to find.

More and more fungi are appearing amongst the ling. This one looked like fresh-baked, crusty bread but was cold and slimy to touch - and, no, I'm not going to spend an hour trying to identify it, though I really would like to know what it is.

I don't enjoy walking in woodland as much as I do in open country but the mixed woodland we wandered through today was exceptional, particularly when one of the larger clearings on a steep slope opened up the view to the south, along Golspie beach to Loch Fleet and the distant Dornoch Firth.

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