Saturday, May 17, 2014
The threatened rain hadn't come by eight this morning so I drove north to make the most of the dull but dry weather.
I'd spotted a path from the road and walked it for a short way across the drab moorland towards Inverpolly. Topping a small rise I was pleased to see a new lochan and walked towards it with anticipation.
A deer fence kept me at a distance, but a willow warbler could be heard singing from scattered birches on the loch-side; and a reed bunting was on a second fence. As I walked towards the far end of the loch a heron rose lazily and flapped off across the sky.
A raven soared above a distant ridge, and a cuckoo was calling from further in towards the hills. Several meadow pipits were active in the heather. A pair of red grouse standing on the path ahead took flight, gliding low over the heather and vanishing over the next ridge.
I got home just as the rain began. Obviously, we knew the weather would be cooler and more changeable up here; but it's rather hard at the moment to see that it's ten degrees warmer in the south of England.
// posted by Christine @ 12:34 PM 
