Still Out And About

Self-isolation going well so far, we went for a walk in Beecraigs Country Park, which began as a deer farm, now expanded to stock other species and to provide pleasant walks through woods and round the loch.
Despite the sunshine the wind was cold but this did not put off the small tortoiseshell butterfly we nearly tripped over (no photo as a dog obligingly annoyingly trotted too close so it flew off).

To begin with we were a bit lost geographically challenged, realising that neither of us had understood the map, but were compensated by a sighting of three (wild) roe deer, who were spooked by a trio of dogs and ran off with astonishing speed and grace.

We oohed and aahed at the Highland calf but our favourite was the Monarch Of the Glen Beecraigs who, with his two slightly-less-well-adorned companions, had a pen all to themselves while the hinds had two entire fields. On the loch there were half a dozen geese, a pair of mallard and a lonesome swan, rather a meagre avian population, I thought. We spoke to a forager picking Sweet Cicely, not a plant I could differentiate from other Umbellliferae, apparently it has a flavour like aniseed -  which I dislike, so no loss there!

I picked up someone's Co-op card along the way, so handed it in to the visitor centre, in case you're looking for it.

On the way home we paused for a photo of new lambs (extra photo); I notice that one has the tail ring still on and the end withering, the other lamb has already lost the end of its tail, to match Mum's.

Later in the afternoon Daughter-in-law S delivered a couple of bags of groceries for us - then went on to do the same for her parents and her aunt. It felt so wrong to have been out and about in the sunshine while she was slaving away doing our shopping, making sure we are all safe. That girl is a gem (and no, you can't have her, she's ours).