A Farlary Morning

One of the attractions of the walks around Farlary croft is that they traverse a variety of habitats which means that we're always likely to see a range of wildlife, particularly around the lochan - once a quarry - and the small ponds which the crofter has built.

We arrived this morning to a scolding from a furious male stonechat after which we found the first of several 'firsts' of the season....

....two small tormentil plants each with just one flower. Tormentil, with its characteristic four-petal flower. is, to me, one of the Highland's flowers of summer, so perhaps these are an indication that the season isn't far away.

A second 'first' came with the finding of three purple milkwort plants, all in the same place, followed by another 'first' with....

....the sighting of several orange-tip butterflies - the only species of butterfly we saw - with these two very anxious to ensure a next generation.

However, for me the highlight of our visit was the sighting of the first damselflies, less than half-a-dozen in all. I think they were immature male common blues, particularly as we've seen common blues at Farlary before.

Everywhere we walked we were surrounded by the songs of warblers, of which I could only identify the chiffchaff and this one, the willow warbler, which was in the majority. However, we were well aware that, as we walked round the croft, we kept hearing the call of a cuckoo which, very likely, was looking for warbler nests in which to lay her eggs.

After the scolding from the stonechat it was good to have a gentle farewell from this little bird, possibly a meadow pipit, which moved close to us even though it was well aware of our presence. 

It was such an uplifting walk, a wonderful antidote to all the woes of the world. If there was a down-side, it was that we didn't see a buzzard, which must be another, rather dismal 'first' for our Farlary visits. However, on Loch Farlary, where we stopped briefly on our way home, we did see, at some distance, a pair of greylag geese with six goslings in convoy.