Storm Damage in May

 The storm a couple of days ago caused considerable damage particularly to the polytunnels covering soft fruit in the area. The trunk of this beech tree in the Serpentine Walk has been split in two by the strength of the wind.
'Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May.' - William Shakespeare.

Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace - Anthriscus sylvestris

White is the predominant colour in the Serpentine Walk and the disused railway track at Lower Largo. Cow parsley (or Queen Anne's Lace, the more attractive name) lines the path.
May or hawthorn blossom is also in full flower. The first flowers on the hawthorn appeared around the 1st May this year which was a few days earlier than in the last couple of years.

Around Strathpeffer

 The Eagle Stone - Strathpeffer

On our trip to Invernessshire we visited Strathpeffer - a Victorian spa town and once health resort.The Eagle stone is a Class 1 Pictish symbol stone on blue gneiss situated on a low hill on the northern edge of Strathpeffer. It depicts the symbols of an arch and an eagle.

 The Rogie Falls

We then visited the Rogie Falls a few miles away on the Ullapool Road. These are spectacular falls with a wooded background on the River Blackwater

The view from the walk to the falls.

Culloden and Clava Cairns

The Memorial Cairn at Culloden

The Clan Donald Stone. This picture gives a good idea of the bleak Drumossie Moor where the Battle of Culloden was fought. It marked the end of the Jacobite Rebellion.

One of the burial chambers built 3-4000 years ago.

Some of the standing stones at Clava

Thrift or Sea Pink

Thrift or Sea-Pink (Armeria maritima)
Although thrift grows right around Britain's coasts, I haven't seen it before in the local area but here was a bright patch of it growing at the side of the slipway to Lower Largo harbour.

Beauly - Un Beau Lieu

View from the River Bank in Beauly.
Spent a long weekend in Invernessshire based in Beauly.

 Broom in full flower on the river walk path.

A dead tree covered in lichen on the path.

Beauly Priory

Terns at the Pier

Terns on the rocks opposite the pier at Lower Largo. At the bottom of the rocks there are also two other small birds - turnstones I think.

Cambo Tulip Festival

 Tulip display in the walled garden at Cambo.

 Female mallard with thirteen ducklings in the Cambo Burn which flows through the walled garden.

Dryad's saddle fungi on a fallen tree trunk in the woodland at Cambo.

Orange-tip Butterfly

A female orange-tip butterfly on garlic mustard flowers. The female has black wing-tips rather than the bright orange wing-tips of the male. There were males flitting about but they were far too active to get a photo. At this time of year garlic mustard, also known as Jack-by-the-hedge, edges the path of the Serpentine Walk. It is an important food plant for the caterpillars of the orange-tip.

Keil's Den In Spring

 A glimpse of Largo Law between the trees in Keil's Den

A bank of Greater Stitchwort on the bank just over the road near the stone bridge in Keil's Den.

 A damp meadow full of Marsh Marigolds.

Marsh Marigolds or Kingcups

A Bank of Bluebells.