Evening Amble

With the weather suddenly settled into a run of warm days with light winds we're spending the day in the garden and taking a gentle amble in the evening into the woods around Dunrobin Castle where....

....the harsh winter seems to have suited the bluebells and....

....whitebells and....

....pinkbells, both of which seem to form a larger proportion of the population this year.

Flowers on one side of the stem, flower heads which drop, narrower leaves and a sweet scent distinguish the native British bluebell, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, from the Spanish invader, Hyacinthoides hispanica, introduced in Victorian times. Dunrobin Woods seem to have both, with the pink ones most obviously Spanish.

Sunday evening's walk produced the first sighting in some time of a roe deer, a stag, which watched us for a minute before moving into deeper cover. There are far fewer deer around this year. One can only assume that the hard winter has been unkind to them.