Almost wherever we go in the main areas of extensive woodlands around Golspie, particularly in the denser pine plantations, we hear the twitter of very small but very excited birds, a frustrating sound as we suspect it's goldcrests but can rarely see much more than a flash of movement, let alone capture one on 'film'. However, on yesterday's walk we were fortunate.
The weather was fine with occasional light showers, but spoilt by temperatures that struggled to reach 12C and a biting southwesterly wind which gusted to around force 6. In a few sheltered spots, like along this path leading down into Golspie glen, the environment was quite different, positively warm, and to our surprise we found....
...a black darter sitting on a bench eating its lunch. We stood for some minutes to watch several dragonflies enjoying the sun, including one much larger hawker which, as usual, refused to land to have its portrait preserved for posterity.
The insects flying around include several butterflies - though the specked woods, having been abundant all summer, now seem to be missing - and this magnificent hoverfly sunning itself on a bracken frond.
We hurried on to the skating pond in the hope of seeing more dragonflies, and were rewarded with both darters and hawkers, the hawkers, once again, refusing to co-operate.
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