The high cirrus over Golspie in this picture taken on Thursday was clear warning of the weather to come, winds gusting to gale force and temperatures which might be termed 'disappointing'. Not that this stopped our daily walks, yesterday taking two, one in the beautiful rolling countryside to the west of Dornoch and in the evening across the Golspie Burn....
....where we were stopped near the Round House by birdsong. We stood for some time listening to the song thrush visible at top right of the picture, a bird with the most amazing repertoire, who was....
....singing and singing from the high branches of a chestnut tree. It was a typical song thrush call, a short, intricate phrase repeated usually three or more times and, apparently, never used again.
It's the same bird which is singing when I go out last thing before bed, so I stand on the front step for a few minutes to listen to him.
By contrast, this little bird with its beak full of insects met us on our walk today and was furious that we had disturbed it. It's a whitethroat but I'm not sure which of the two species it is. The lesser has white extending across its tummy, and grey legs, while the common whitethroat has only a white throat and flesh-coloured legs.
This weather certainly isn't encouraging the insects. Other than a few cabbage whites and this lone tortoiseshell, we haven't seen butterflies, only a few bees are on the wing, and there's no chance of any dragonflies. The weather remains cool for the short term: it would be good thereafter if we could have a.... summer.
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