Highland Cowslips

There's an area of open land at the southern end of town, between the A9 and the path up to the council offices, which seems to have no real purpose other than as a place for....

....cowslips to grow.

Two years ago, when we first noticed that this area was full of these delicate plants, I wouldn't have been able to identify it. I did, however, know it by name and as a plant of the English meadows and of Olde England - it's the county flower of Essex. I wouldn't have thought of it as a Highland flower, and we certainly haven't seen any others around here or on Scotland's west coast.

In places there are masses of the plants, often fighting their way upwards through the tangle of last year's dead leaves and stalks.

These cowslips leave me with a question: how did the colony come to be here? Is it descended from an escapee from the gardens of the houses that run along the upper side of the path or did it hitch a lift north along the A9?

Not that the answer would worry this small wasp which is obviously highly appreciative of the nectar in this burst of bright yellow flowers.