Christine's walking & birds blog

This was a welcome sighting as I didn't manage to encounter any azures last year. A second dragonfly zoomed in and buzzed it, and off it flew, not to be seen again. I think the buzzer was a four-spotted chaser.

We had coffee and biscuits at the top of the climb, with grey wagtails and dippers (one juvenile) busy on the river below.  As we walked back down the dusty road, an unseen cuckoo entertained us with its slightly out-of-tune call; but once again, no spotted flycatchers or wood warblers were evident.

Three days ago I remarked to Greger that I'd always fancied the near end of Loch Glascarnoch for Temminck's stints if the water level was low - so off we went. We could see no stints, but were happy with ringed plover (5+), a common sandpiper, and a very close dunlin.

Making our way back up to the road, I noticed how the messy, bouldery area that's usually under water has become colonised by plants, including sundew.

I also identified what I think was a variety of clubmoss, while tiny bog myrtle bushes were everywhere.

I've used a couple of semi-colons in this post, where I might otherwise use a dash; there are reports that the semi-colon is dying out, with lots of daft talk about it being pretentious. It just helps you read a piece of writing, helps to make the meaning clear. Long live the semi-colon!