Natural highs and lows

The internet informs me that today, 20th May, is World Bee Day.  This seems an apposite time to mention the many species of bee which we saw whilst on holiday in Perthshire.  In mid-April, when we set off for Blairgowrie, there weren't too many species on the wing in Orkney. Mainly White-tailed, Buff-tailed and Common Carder bumblebees, Honey Bees and a few species of solitary bee, such as the Clarke's Mining Bee we were fortunate to find in our garden.  Wending our way south (so not making a beeline) certainly increased the number of species we might see. In fact, the cottage garden was a good place to look for bees. With plenty of nectar- and pollen-rich flowers, plus a profusion of tree blossom, sitting in a sunny spot nearly always produced something buzzy. There were wasps too, busy making  papier mâché f or their nests  using shavings from the owner's garden fence. Before setting off, I had not even considered what sort of bumbles we might bumble into, mai...

Leaving Dornoch the next morning, our first port of call was an outdoor shop on the outskirts of Inverness to buy some new waterproof over-trousers because, well, it is Scotland after all.  That done, we took a scenic route to our next overnight stop, incorporating some wildlife watching in Boat of Garten, a road diversion due to bridge repairs to reach Tomintoul and a cake break at a pleasant tearoom in a Cairngorms valley, before pootling into Aboyne and checking into our accommodation. A male Teal on Milton Loch, Boat of Garten Before our evening meal, a leg stretch was very much in order, so we wandered around the nearby Birsemore Loch, seeing our first Blackbird fledglings of the year, listening to the drumming of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and hearing Common Crossbills calling as they were feeding in the trees high above our heads. Whilst crossing a bridge over the River Dee, Megan spotted a plant that was new to us both, which produced a flurry of photographic activity and mu...