Dawyck

A delivery to Peebles was required today so we continued to Dawyck, hoping for some Autumn colours.

We were too early for the best colours display - the beech leaves had hardly paled but one or two splashes of gold around the garden were pleasing.

There was more of interest elsewhere in the garden, see the collage in the extra. Clockwise from top left: Rowan berries set against a fruticose mass of lichen; a surprisingly late bloom on Rhododendron; fruit on Arbutus, the 'Strawberry Tree', which I don't recall seeing before; autumn crocus. these are white but purple examples bloom in other parts of the garden.

Fungi were fruiting, we were sang to by a robin too high in the tree for a clear photo, harangued by a wren in the dark shadows of a Rhododendron, crows (or Raven?) kronked up the hill, other birds tweeted or warbled unseen; all was bucolic but no hares showed themselves this time.

From there we drove cross-country, making a stop in Biggar for lunch at the Gillespie Centre then a tootle down the A702 to home.