Venus and the Moon

A crescent moon and Venus in the same photo taken last night.. Venus is quite prominent in the sky just now.

Stonechat

Male Stonechat

Quite often see stonechats at the Massney Braes in Lundin Links, along the disused railway track in Lower Largo, where they tend to flit from gorse bush to gorse bush ceaselessly flicking their tail, and also at Dumbarnie Links. This is the first time that one has stood still for long enough for me to get any sort of reasonable photo. Looks a bit like a robin but the male easily distinguished by the prominent white neck mark.

Male stonechat purched on a rock above the beach at Lundin Links.

Song Thrush in the Garden

Song Thrush

It's a long time since I've seen a thrush in the garden although I have seen them at the Massney Braes in Lundin Links and on the beach at Lower Largo. However, just in the last week or so I thought that there must be one around because I'd found quite a few broken snail shells.

Song thrush enjoying the birdbath.

Bullfinches, Yellowhammer

There was a pair of bullfinches in the trees on the Serpentine Walk between Lower and Upper Largo. Difficult to get a clear photo, as they tended to go into the middle of the tree.

Male bullfinch

Yellowhammer

As I walked aong the disused railway track there was a flash of yellow and a yellowhammer landed on the top of a bush by the side of the track.

Lundin Links Volcanic Neck

The volcanic neck at Lundin Links.

Around 300 million years ago there was considerable volcanic activity in this region. Just beneath the Massney Braes a volcanic outcrop, the Lundin Links Neck can be seen on the beach. There is also a volcanic neck at Viewforth (which is the name of a ruined house just outside the village of Lower Largo) and also at Ruddons Point which is the most Easterly point of Largo Bay. An excellent description of the geology of Largo Bay can be found in the book " St Andrews to Largo - A Longshore Trail of rocks and plants" by Owen Silver.

Map showing the positions of the volcanic necks at Lundin Links (LL), Viewforth (VF) and Ruddons Point (RP) in Largo Bay and Kincraig Point (KC) at the Eastern end of Shell Bay.

First Daffodil

The first daffodils in our garden to br fully out. They had been half-out for two to three weeks before this, but I think the cold weather had delayed them.

Scarlet Elfcup

Scarlet Elfcup fungus - Sarcoscypha austriaca

Visited Cambo today to see the snowdrops, always a magnificent sight Mid-February. I didn't take photos of the snowdrops as I've taken them many times before. However, I was much taken with this fungus, which helpfully had an explanatory label next to it. It is a fungus of startling colours. The cup-shaped fruiting bodies are whitish on the outside due to a coating of numerous, minute, curly white hairs. The smooth inner spore-producing surface is a bright uniform scarlet. It grows on fallen wood, twigs and branches in broadleaf woods, particularly in humid habitats.