Flaming June

One of the ongoing interests in moving to a place which we don't know at all well is seeing how the seasons develop. Certainly, our first May in Golspie didn't bring the stunning weather which can, sometimes, grace the normally very damp west coast, but June here, so far, has seemed almost like a return to a warm sort of winter, with haar rolling in off the North Sea, occasional spells of miserably wetting drizzle, and temperatures which struggle to rise into the mid-teens.

We've spent some time walking in the woodland below Beinn Bhraggie, looking out towards the beach which stretches southwest from Golspie towards Loch Fleet, not only wreathed in mist but also limited in access by high tides in the morning. 

From the number of times we see them we're becoming aware of how many roe deer inhabit these woodlands and of how disdainful they are of human contact, even though most humans seem to be accompanied by a dog or two. This young stag hardly bothered to amble out of sight when he spotted us, and we've been watching two deer which come in the evenings into the grassy area by our house, often at a time when people are giving their dogs their last walk before bed.

We've also been walking instead north along the coast, along the beach below Dunrobin Castle where lines of slowly rotting posts and....

....beautifully dressed blocks of the local sandstone bear witness to structures which have steadily been eaten by the sea. We've been aware of, without actually locating the nests of both ringed plovers and oystercatchers along this beach but yesterday.... 

....we had the pleasure of seeing the first product of these nesting efforts: half a dozen or so young plovers running around the beach. We're amazed, as the area is crawling with crows, so the parents have done a commendable job in keeping their youngsters safe.

A Fourth Orchid Site

We were walking home this morning along one of the two drives that connect Dunrobin Castle to the A9 when a sharp-eyed Mrs MW spotted an orchid in the grass at the side of the road.

It was one of two, the other much smaller. The colour is very similar to the early marsh orchids we found at Littleferry and Golspie golf course but the shape of the lowest petal is much narrower, and the leaves have no dark spots.

Identifying orchids is a nightmare but this looks like an early marsh orchid, though that species often comes in other colours, including dark and light pinks, and white, as well as this purple.

A little further along the road she found three more which, again, look much the same as the others but...

....a closer look at the flowers suggests this is not an early but a northern marsh orchid. This species is characterised by a wider lower petal with diamond-shaped 'tooth' at the base of the lip, as well as lacking spots on its leaves.

Suddenly, and joyfully, Sutherland's orchids are appearing fast.

Goldcrests

Despite being, along with the firecrest, Britain's smallest bird, we've managed to spot several goldcrests in the pine plantations around Golspie. They're chatty, fidgety birds, cheaping and flitting from branch to branch of the dark coniferous canopy, which makes them difficult to photograph. Either the light is too low....

....or there's hardly time to focus before they....

....decide to move elsewhere, and when one does get a half-decent chance....

....something is certain to get in the way.

Even when a shot comes out the bird isn't necessarily showing its best profile, and then when, just once in a while....

....a picture finally shows promise, something like an unfortunate background rather mars it.

This is about the best I've managed so far. I'm going to have to keep trying.

Another Orchid

After only recently discovering early purple orchids at Littleferry and beyond Golspie golf course it seemed almost too much to hope that we would find a further species so soon but, this morning, while walking through the woodland above Golspie Tower, we stumbled across this.

It's very difficult to distinguish between some of the orchid species, many of which make life even more complicated by happily hybridising with their close relatives, but this seems to be nearest to the health spotted orchid, based on the rounded blotches on its leaves and the small, central tooth on the flower's lobe.

Nearby, there was a second orchid, a little pinker than the first, and then we found....

....two others, another whiter one and....

....another delicately pink one.

It's fairly evident that these orchids, like the early purple, are only just appearing but they are roughly on time - the heath spotted is usually first recorded in June.

We need to go back to have another look at them as they are only just starting to flower and should, in a few days time, be much more spectacular. We might also find a few more....

Sunset

Last night's sunset, at 10.26pm.

The Waders' Nests - Update 2

Nothing has changed along this section of beach: the only evidence of an active nest is at the far end, below the go-kart track, where....

....the pair of ringed plovers we saw last week met us and went through the process of drawing us away from the bank of pebbles where we think they have their nest.

Last week, further along the beach, we found a pair of plovers actively nesting below this clump of grass, and we photographed their eggs, but when we passed today there was no sign of life, so we pressed on to....

....where we've regularly seen the oystercatchers but where, again, there was no sign of activity, so we ventured up the beach to find....

....not one but three possible nest sites within about ten metres, all surrounded by tracks of both birds and dogs, and all empty, so either the eggs have hatched and the young have left, or the oystercatchers lost their eggs to a predator.

We were about to head for home when, looking back to the tuft of grass, we spotted....

....both an oystercatcher and a plover, so perhaps there are still some active nests.

The Ornament Box

We've almost emptied the many boxes which arrived with the removers last week. Of those few that remain this one will probably be left to last, partly because its contents are far from important to the daily running of our lives, partly because I'll find going through its contents difficult. It contains odd objects I have picked up along the road of my life, some inherited from my parents, all kept because I associate each with the memory of a place, an event, and/or a person.

This house is not well endowed with shelving on which these 'ornaments' can sit and collect dust during the time we live here. I recall packing them when we left Kilchoan, when many were thick with the dust I hadn't bothered to remove from them over the decade or so we lived at Matenderere.

I wonder what I will do with them when we move again, when we have to downsize to a place much smaller than this three-bedroomed house. There's little amongst them of any pecuniary value and I doubt whether many of them will appeal to my children. Some may go to a charity shop, and perhaps someone will buy them, while for some, their worth will be measured in the metal they contain.

It would be lovely to have a great funeral pyre where I ceremonially burn them, consigning the memories they hold to the skies, but I think it's unlikely I'll have the courage. Perhaps I'll be past caring, and someone will simply consign them to the bin. I wouldn't mind: they will have served their purpose.