Wildlife walkies

Rather a dullish day again, but our local Scottish Wildlife Trust group had organised a walk this morning, the first outing for a long time. Eleven of us met at Kelly's Pier on Loch Etive, along from Taynuilt, and enjoyed a good ramble and chat along the banks of the River Awe, which flows out of Loch Awe into Loch Etive, which of course is a sea loch. 

We spotted quite a few birds - merganser, goosander, sand martin, house martin, swallow, dipper, buzzard, swift and siskin among others and a good variety of plants too, including a lovely white form of the common spotted orchid, globeflower, yellow pimpernel and of course a few million bluebells, interspersed with the frothy white of pignut. 

The excitement of the day though was a sighting of the rare - though maybe 'locally abundant' butterfly - the tiny Chequered Skipper, posing on a bluebell. 

Quote of the Day:

William Shakespeare - "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."