Primroses

Another walk out to the Ness today. The heathland is starting to bloom and there are wild primroses in clusters all over the place. Tiny dots of vivid blue dog violets and pink ladies smock punctuate the rough grass, whilst the peat bog areas are surrounded by spongy mats of moss and lichen. The crow berry plants are bursting into fleshy leaves and tiny unidentifiable shoots are appearing in the pools made by footprints in the dense mud.

It was high tide when I was out today so the few seals around were sky hopping, pretending to watch the sun whilst managing to follow me along the coast. The sand martin group is now about 6 or 7 strong, must see if I can find where they are nesting and keep an eye on it. Eider ducks, oystercatchers, gulls, geese - too many to count. The shell ducks were on the heath today rather than on the shore, apparently they nest in old rabbit holes so I must keep an eye out for that too. A few terns and a bonxie around today so it’s definitely summertime in the the isles.

Highlights of today we’re getting a superb view of a great northern diver just offshore, and having a Lapland bunting in the garden this morning.