I had hoped we would find the year's first wild orchid during our visit to Lochaber but we were disappointed, so imagine my surprise this morning, on a walk up one of the forestry tracks at the back of our house, on a truly beautiful morning, when....
....I stumbled across this, a heath spotted orchid, growing in the middle of the track. The specimen was a bit stunted, perhaps reflecting the fact that it was largely growing in gravel, but I was - as I am every year with the first orchid - thrilled.
Then, a little further along the track, I came across two more. My cup truly ran over, particularly as one of them....
....was an absolute beauty.
This particular track becomes a rough path after a mile so, anxious to return home to look at and edit my pictures of the orchids, I turned back and, in that moment, disturbed four red deer, two adult females and two of what were probably last year's young, this in an area where we haven't seen red deer in some time following their being shot out when the area was put down to trees.
I diverted slightly on my way back home to look for the year's first dragon- or damselflies, and found none, instead tripping over more orchids, three this time, all....
....northern marsh orchids.
As I neared home a red kite circled above me. Lochaber needs to look to its laurels: on our weekend visit we didn't see a single raptor.
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