Wildflowers galore

At St Cyrus there was a great profusion of wildflowers. I knew a few, but actually a huge number of them were unknown to me. Normally when I visit places on the coast, like Troup Head which I visit regularly, I tend to know what the majority of the wildflowers are. But these were quite different to what I think of as the 'usual' coastal wildflowers. Maybe it's because it was machair land - very sandy - rather than clifftop?

Here's a selection, several unnamed. If you know the names, please add a comment telling me.

 yarrow

 foxgloves

 orchids

 eyebright

 forget-me-nots and lady's bedstraw

? unsure - maybe yellow rattle?

marram grass

comfrey?

 unknown  (growing in a wetland area)

 unknown

 unknown

 unknown

 can't remember the name of this one - but I know I should know it!

 unknown -  looks a bit like comfrey, but white?

unknown

Hopefully someone will know some of these and I'll learn something. I must try to look them up too...

Some residents of St Cyrus

I know this is not what I normally photograph, but as I walked around St Cyrus I soon realised that looking down was a good idea - otherwise you wouldn't know what you were about to step on ...

And the variety of colours of the snail shells were just amazing.

There's a whole world of life below your feet.

St Cyrus

Last weekend I visited St Cyrus National Nature Reserve near Montrose. It was a lovely day, and I really enjoye a wee walk around the reserve.

The wildlflowers were beautiful - but I realised just how specialist my 'knowledge' is with where I've lived for the last 15 odd years. I'm reasonably good at identifying coastal flowers, especially the spring ones, but found the wildflower rich machair at St Cyrus has numerous flowers which I couldn't name. Photos to follow in a separate blog post, in the hopes that someone will help name them...

(Do you call the sandy grassland full of wildflowers machair on this side of the country? I suspect not actually, maybe it's got another local name here?)

I found the remains of the old fish trap really interesting.

We had fun on the beach.

There was some wildlife too ...

All good.

Easter in Arran

I'm finally finding time to sort through the many photos taken over the last few months, and catch up (hopefully!) on some blog entries.

Last Easter I went to Arran for a few days.

One of the places I visited was Brodick Castle - it's a great place to visit in the springtime.

This pheasant posed beautifully for me.

I spotted this plant on a visit to a friend in Balloch, growing wild on the shores of Loch Lomond. We weren't sure what it was, although it looked very alien growing there. Then I spotted it beside the pond at Brodick Castle. I think it's skunk cabbage. It didn't seem to smell of skunks, but then again, I wasn't that close...

It's a great time of year in the castle gardens, with the rhododendrons and azaleas in flower.

I loved the magnolia too.

Camellias.

Busy bee.

The daffodils were also in full bloom.

Back in Lamlash and the sun was shining on Holy Isle.

A good time of year.