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.
….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.
How refreshing to see the tiny droplets of water on all those fresh flowers. A sight we haven't seen for some time in Devon, where watering our shrubs with buckets of harvested rainwater is still the norm. Still no sign of rain in the forcast and temperatures due to rise next week back into the 30's. The grass is always greener on the other side, and in this case, for us southern readers, that is true!
ReplyDeleteWe've actually had precious little rain in the last few weeks, the only exception being last week's impressive thunderstorm when we had almost 25mm of rain. So we've had to water the garden, something which we've rarely had to do.
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