The fabulous weather has brought out the butterflies en mass this week, resulting in the unusual combination of red peacock butterflies feasting on bright yellow daffodils.
I just love the beautiful colours of the daffodils and the peacock.
The Wee Scurry Beastie
The weather has been absolutely fantastic this week, more like having a mid somer’s day in the middle of March, than the heavy snow we had two year’s ago at this time. We have been able to eat lunch outside in the sun all week, admiring the hazy views over the loch and Arran, the flocks of birds frequenting the trees and our seed feeders, and the black throated divers wailing on the loch.
Yesterday we spotted this little weasel scurrying through one of the big hollow trees in the orchard. Thankfully, I had my camera with 400mm lens at hand, so I got these couple of shots while sitting at the table. I got up and followed it round the side of our fence until it disappeared behind our neighbour’s shed, but it was too fast to get another shot off.
This is the second time we have spotted this shy and fast animal in over a year. Our neighbour’s kids call it ‘the wee scurry beastie’ as it used to live in their loft, scurrying across the ceiling. We don’t know where it’s nest is these days, but it can’t be far.
Posted in Argyle, Wildlife
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Pink Rain over Arran
After a hard days work at our cottage, making good progress with creating a second bedroom from the junk store upstairs, it was time for a rest. While admiring the view with a well deserved glass of wine, the dark grey rain clouds over Arran started to turn pink. So I decided to grab my camera and sprint up the little hill at the back of the cottage.
Thankfully, I was just in time to capture a couple of ‘close up’ images of the pink rain and blue and pink clouds over Holy Island with my lens zoomed out at 200mm, followed by a series of six images with my lens zoomed in at 70mm resulting in the ultra wide panorama below, before the sun disappeared below Kintyre and the rain clouds changed back to their boring grey.
Posted in Argyle, Landscape
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A Late Afternoon Sun over Arran
Spring is most definitely on it’s way!
It’s been an absolute gorgeous day in Cowal with a lovely sunshine, although there was still a bit of a chilly wind. A great day for pottering about the garden and pretending to be a lumber jack. The best thing was to be able to sit outside with a cup of coffee in the sun.
The views from our cottage are always superb, especially when the sun sets with its warm glow over the forest and a pink glow over the mountains on Arran beyond. Although a great colourful sunset, I prefer the black and white version above.
It promises to be a very cold night with a clear, star studded sky and a touch of ground frost. And who knows, maybe a chance to see the Aurora Borealis after a week of red alerts and cloud covered skies.
Posted in Argyle, Landscape
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Gone for a Swim in the Loch
We got up and came downstairs in the morning to find an empty dog basket in the lounge and Lola nowhere to be seen. That is, until we opened the curtains, with a hot dog lying stretched out in the spot of sun between the French doors and the curtains.
The nice ‘early spring’ morning with a warmish sun and without the biting cold wind from the previous days looked inviting, so after a cup of tea we went for a morning’s wander down the field to the loch. Lola running ragged through the field, chasing imaginary mice and a couple of real pheasants.
Lola must have got too hot lying in the sun that she thought it was spring and decided it was time for a swim in the loch. The water was pretty freezing and did not look inviting to me at all. But Lola loved it, as she went in for a paddle and a swim several times.
Posted in Argyle, Dogs
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