'Fly Aragic'

We walked in Balblair Woods this morning and were pleased to see that someone at NatureScot has been putting up some new information boards along the main path between the car park and the bird hide but, oh dear, whoever did it either failed to get this board checked or was badly let down because....

....there's the sort of spelling mistake one would not expect of such an august natural history promoting organisation. I say, "Oh dear....", but we've all done it.

Fly aragic.... sorry, fly agaric.... is probably the most impressive of fungi and there were no shortage of specimens in the woods today including this almost perfect group which I managed to ruin by inadvertently knocking over the biggest; and in a national nature reserve! "Oh dear...," as they say.

Walking through the woods and along the shores of Loch Fleet was a pleasure in the bright sunshine but it was cold. The temperature last night in our back garden fell to 2C and the car was registering only 5C as we drove along Ferry Road to the woods.

However, the sun still has some warmth in it and if one chose a sunny spot along one of the tracks one could stand for a few minutes and bask in it. What disappointed us - and this is nothing new - was how few people were enjoying the woods: we saw only one family, even though this is the Scottish half term, and six other adults in a two-hour walk.

Late autumn, which is where we are here in northern Scotland, does have its spectacular side, it being the only time of year one forgives the invasive habits of the bracken. It's also a time of year when one has some strange juxtapositions, like....

....a dog rose in full flower bearing a mass of ripe berries.