Summer Flowers

The sun has gone to Wimbledon to watch the tennis so we’re left with a grey, damp and chilly murk, weather which the Scots so beautifully term drecht. It isn’t pleasant but it’s what we signed up for when we moved to northeast Scotland so we, like the summer flowers, just have to put up with it - or, if it’s at all possible, enjoy it.

On Wednesday, while still waiting for a new router to arrive to replace the one fried in last Thursday’s lightning strikes, I walked in the direction of Lochlundaidh and was amazed by the wealth of wildflowers in bloom along the verges. Almost all the flowers of summer were there - the ones I haven’t seen are those, like the common spotted orchid, which, locally, are confined to just one site which I haven’t visited.

The ‘old friends’ included fragrant orchids (above)…

….heath spotted orchids, most of which are very pale bluey-pink….

….several thistles including the classic Scottish spear thistle and….

….the much more common marsh thistle.

Not everything was flowering in shades of pink and purple, for example yellow vetch and….

….one of my favourite plants, not least for its name, bog asphodel.

The weather may have been unhelpful but at least some insects, if not many, were out and active enough to take advantage of the feast available, while….

....I had to decide, on a track which winds gently and seemingly for ever through the damp hills, at what point it would be expedient to turn back and see if the router had arrived.