East Ayrshire Life

Well as I start this blog the main discussion has to turn towards the usual topic in Britain, the weather. It is blowing a gale here forecast states up to fifty mile an hour and leaves are falling of the trees in rapid numbers. Still as I put out a smaller blog last time I thought I better start this blog off from day one, so went for a walk this afternoon in a thick hoodie and trying to keep warm.

14th.

One of two flocks of Starlings flying about battling the wind and they landed in front of me to eat the Rowan berries, I expect (as we only have a few here normally) these Starlings have migrated here from Europe for the Winter. I estimate there were about a hundred if I combined the two flocks so if the weather improves on another day I might go out at a later time and try and find the murmuration.

Saw this on a derilict pub and it amused me with its simplicity that made me smile.

With all the rain we have what is normally a trickle of a stream puts on a good show in volume.

a sure sign of Autumn.

I often take shots of Dandelion seed heads and so do lots of others, but here is a Dandelion on its last legs and without seeds, plus an intruder that I didn’t see until on the computer.

17th.

Back to the weather and the morning started with not a cloud in the sky and a beautiful sunrise, but that came at a cost, with temperature just below freezing. Giving me the chance to get out early and take some shots.

My poor old car misses the luxury of our old home being put in the garage, so as the drive is in shade it was a bit frosted this morning.

Hydrangea has a beautiful frosted edge to it this morning, so we will see it turn brown very soon and die back. When I applied the AI “What plant is this” to get the correct spelling it told me it was a Japanese Wasabi. Wrong AI.

Frost as a real sparkle to the humblest of plants.

The remaining Honeysuckle berries look good also.

For once the weather forecast was correct so I am glad I covered the more tender plants with fleece or put them in the greenhouse.

18th

Had a chance to go as a guest with the angling club my neighbour belongs to and again though it started off really cold (below zero C) it turned into the most fabulous day weather and fishing wise. I had four beautiful Rainbow Trout and my neighbour and also boat sharing companion had six, finished off with a fish and chip supper in Castle Douglas.

This was the countryside we were fishing in.

We had four boats and eight of us fishing this beautiful loch.

It was alongside the tree lined edge on the righthand side that we caught our fish , most being under or close to the trees in just a few feet of water, great fun.

Wonderful weather, tremendous loch, great fishers, enjoyable company and even some fish, what more could you want for a day in the October sunshine.

19th.

Woke up to another cold morning (minus four C) but the mist was hanging over the river and it looks like being another nice day.

My shot from two days ago showed the Hydrangea with frost on the edges of its leaves, look at it this morning in a real sorry state.

While out on a very chilly quick walk this morning we came across one of the two cats that frequent our area out hunting for mice. Giving me the innocent eye “not up to anything mister just out for a walk like you”.

23rd.

For the past five days we have woken up to heavy frost, today it soon disappeared as the rain set in ahead of Storm Austen (the first major storm of the season) to attack us. The cold weather has certainly brought on the Autumn colours as we saw when we went out for coffee this morning. Had to stop the car and take this shot with a long run of beautiful colours.

24th/25th

Storm Boelo has hit us hard probably the worse weather we have experienced since being here. Started of with heavy rain, plus powerful winds that has lasted from yesterday through a very disturbed night and as I write this ten thirty in the morning has not eased up, of course the camera was out so here are a few shots.

The rain was so heavy yesterday that the storm water drain just couldn’t cope so came bubbling up through the manhole.

Some of the garden bits were tearing around the garden most of the night, of course I never heard them, one small advantage of taking one’s hearing aids out in bed.

Domino dustbins.

Yesterday morning all the petals were still on the Rudbeckia, mostly blown away now.

28th.

A mild morning before the rain arrives, so went for a walk, just me and my second partner, my camera.

Fungi on a fence post.

Had my long lens so took some distant shots (above) totally unaware I had captured the Buzzard in the right hand centre of the last shot.

More close up shots on the pathway, showing the versatility of the 150-600 lens.

Finally this “Road Ahead Closed sign must have been washed down in the storm and got lodged very photographically behind a rock, though it could have done better and been the right way up.

A really weird start to the month, with solid rain one day and sunshine the next, all with a cold wind but it is that time of the year. So just get on with it.

1st..

Went to look at a hill loch with thoughts of joining the club, a beautiful drive through farm land and on a dirt track and this is what we saw on the way back.

All these Pheasants on the track, that were not there on the way up, why? Went around the bend at the bottom of the shot and found out why.

Literally hundreds more and in the distance the farmer/gamekeeper feeding them all ready for the shooting season end of next month. These birds must know the rough time of when they are going to be fed and gather in that spot before the food arrives.

4th.

The fish in my pond are really growing and just like the pheasants above know that when I approach the pond they are likely to be fed and therefore come up to the edge waiting. If anyone else approaches they do not react the same and shy away. Sorry about the netting, but it is there to stop two things, leaves falling from surrounding shrubs and secondly the Heron coming down and eating them all.

8th.

Never really been a “street photographer”because the streets in the sort of area I have lived have never been busy enough. But went to Glasgow and took a few shots of the journey from Ayr to Glasgow for a photo assignment within a camera club I belong to. This shot just showed part of the busyness of Glasgow Central Station, enjoyed it , so on my next trip there will take a few more.

11th.

The strange weather continues on the 8th I even had to scrape the ice off the windscreen of the car as we had a hard frost, then a lovely day. Yesterday it rained virtually all day with a very strong wind, then today it is cold but with sunshine and no wind. So that was definitely a call for us to have a walk along the river, with the camera in hand of course.

Hogweed still in flower, when most other summer plants have closed down already, as can be seen from the first shot a couple of flies are taking advantage of the fact there is still something to eat from.

Started taking shots of this Dipper twenty yards away from it, but slowly crept forward, taking shots every few yards closer. Eventually I managed to get three yards away for this shot before it flew off, loved the flow of the water past the rock as well as the bird.

12th

All this rubbish weather and as soon a you get just the slightest bit of sunshine, out come the insects for maybe their last feed before Winter sets in. So of course out comes the camera to record it.

What ever way you look at it Summer ends this month and with the rain and cold North Westerly winds it feels like we have even left Autumn out of our seasons. Last night was a bad night , with gale force winds and lashings of rain, even me with no hearing aids in and as deaf as a post without them was woken by the storm.

20th.

So with the weather in mind we went for our morning walk along the River Muck and the water was rushing through and nearly the highest we had seen it.

The speed of the water caused some enjoyable photography and I know it resembles a glass of Coke this (due to the peat soil) is the colour of the water. Though the wind was still strong the sunshine added to the beauty of the water.

24th

As yesterday was the Astronomical start of Autumn I thought I ought to include some start of Autumn photos, so off we went to Culzean Castle to capture what was happening.

Must admit I pulled these two shots out of the fallen leaves and put them on the grass to show their beauty.

Even some Oak has turned (usually the last to turn) but amongst the thorn branches looks colourful.

Scattering of leaves on the footpaths.

Would not be my photography without a seed head.

Can you beat a gnarly tree as a youngster I would be climbing this all day, not so much nowadays, but if I was sure I wouldn’t be caught I would have a go.

I also love dead tree sculptures, perfectly natural, but interesting.

Thick young woodlands are always of interest.

Just like to finish my trip Culzean on this beautiful Fallow Deer buck, looks in splendid condition in this the rutting season.

26th.

A walk along the river today revealed the usual subjects.

A Common European Frog trying to out stare me. so much so that I never got its face fully focused.

A walk with nothing rare on it as this is The Common Darter.

29th.

Went for the day to Glasgow and had to go into our recently discovered small mall, a fairly modern building attached to an old building in a very beautiful way. I loved the construction of the roof as it let so much light into all three floors.

No visit to Glasgow would be complete without a lunch and today we headed to one of my favourite , SUGO.

My spaghetti with mussels in a tomato sauce.

The wife’s spinach ravioli in a butter sauce and parmasan cheese.

We both find it hard to believe that we have just entered our second year of living in East Ayrshire and see to be (at last) settling Ito this totally different lifestyle, going from a small hamlet way out in the countryside to sixteen bungalows in a Cul de Sac with busy working people going in and out all day. Plus of course the wildlife is totally different, but by feeding the birds that has improved immensely in just one year.

3rd.

Just to show regular bird visitors to our garden include Goldfinch.

Male Chaffinch.

A Warbler (not going to say which one as I always get it wrong).

A puffed up Sparrow as the mornings are getting colder.

Plus all the House Sparrows mates, virtually on our doorstep eating their morning porridge oats, well it is Scotland what else would you give them for breakfast?

4th.

For the second year running, the Ayr Airshow is on today and tomorrow and though the strong winds prevented one performance of the wing walkers most other acts did a display. Also for the second year running I never went as there are thousands of people go and Ayr is chaotic for driving in and out of. We do here the sound of the Red Arrows aerobatic team in their Hawk jets and the Typhoon doing their thing (and we are at least ten miles as the crow flies from the sea front) but only captured two unusual visitors over us and they are below.

This could be anything as it was so far away by the time I managed to get the camera on it, but it was a North American Harvard according to Flight Radar 24 and was presumably a stunt plane.

A familiar aircraft at our old address but not seen one here, a RAF Chinook, which from photos I have seen put on a good display and also had one static in the show arena.

6th

Out for a walk and I noticed this beastie on the back of the wife’s coat.

On a closer examination discovered it was a Forest Bug or Red Legged Shield Bug.Must have been so hard to name this, as it lives in woodland, has red legs and looks like a shield oh and it is a bug.

10th.

Just when my wife thought her birthday celebrations were over we surprised her with three of her old work mates flew up from Bristol to Glasgow to spend the day with her. Had a wonderful day and took the bus in the afternoon up to the cathedral. Not as good as Carlisle but a very interesting building. Below are some of the shots I took on my phone, it does take some good shots but still think camera shots are better.

As you are aware I love the skill of the crafts person that creates such wonderful structures.

Looking into the church from the entrance, some of you might recognise the lady lighting the candle on the left.

When we came out it was heavy rain so we did not attempt to climb the hill to go around some of the graveyard which has (apparently) some interesting graves.

Went into a very unusual shopping mall of Buchanan Street, never been in there before so beautiful.

13th.

As the first day of Meteorlogical Autumn was the first of this month I thought I should photo some signs of Autumn coming in. So here are a few below. Twenty third of the month is the Astronomical Autumn, take your pick, but with beautiful sunny days like today I think I would rather stay in Summer until the twenty third.

Hawthorn berries becoming nice and ripe, as a child we called the leaves “bread” and their berries “cheese” and would eat them both.

Though a garden plant when all the others are wild I liked the water droplets on the leaves of this Lady’s Mantle.

Rose Bay Willow herb with the leaves or the seeds, in the sunlight made for a great shot.

Love seed heads and sunlight, a great combination.

Common Dock seeds.

Two shots of Creeping Thistle, one still green and the other dying back.

Have not seen the Dippers all summer this was the first of the season for me.

As an added bonus the sun actually kept shinning all afternoon so I ventured out into the garden with my camera as a lot of insects were around, here are some of them.

A Buff Tailed Bee.

Unknown on the Salvia.

A Yellow Dung Fly.

A Cabbage White.

Lastly a Small Tortoiseshell.

It has been pointed out to me that I mentioned two trips for “her indoors” birthday and didn’t include anything about the second trip, so this is to rectify that mistake and show you her second surprise.

This was another castle called Glen App, down on the coast nearly to Stranraer, and a beautiful very private (posh) location.

The restuarant is located in a Victorian greenhouse and you enter the gardens via this impressive archway.

The lawns were laid out nicely and you could sit and have afternoon tea by this beautiful tree.

This is the greenhouse and each party has a six bay dining space to yourselves which made it a cosy warm area where you could relax and enjoy each other’s company without others near by. The food and service was excellent and they even gave the wife a chocolate decorated plate saying Happy Birthday with some petit fours on. A good time was had by all especially the birthday “girl”.

Why so special is this month? Well the day I published my last blog was our wedding anniversary and at our age you enjoy every one of those and this weekend it is my wife’s eightieth birthday and so the celebrations continue. Firstly meeting her cousin and family in Carlisle for a pre birthday lunch, then a mystery tour for her on her birthday and who knows what else.

19th.

Had a couple of hours in Carlisle before our lunch and had never been to the cathedral before and was in for a treat, a magnificent building and surrounding ones as well, so below are a few shots I actually took on my phone, the first time I have done this on the blog. Of course not as good as my camera but I am still learning the use of a phone for photography.

Externally the church and surrounding buildings reflect its age with the original building dating back nine hundred years.

As I entered the cathedral I wa met by a wall of sound from the organ , as a young Swedish organist was practising for an afternoon recital, these were the pipes facing the entrance and the next shot shows those on the other side of the wall/

The organist is where the light is in the centre of the shot so it just gives you some idea of the size of those pipes.

The columns and ceilings are incredible, the craftsmanship that went into building such roofs is incredible.

The stain glass and altars are incredibly decorated and again you can only envy the skill that people have to produce such beauty.

Well worth a visit if you are in the border district.

20th.

I am sure I have shown you a Common Darter before, but this one was posing for me so I obliged it by taking this shot.

22nd.

What the whole month has been building up to the wife’s eightieth birthday and the two trips my son, partner and myself took her on were a total mystery to her and I am glad to say they were a success and even the sun shone all day.

First surprise was a fifty minute ride down into Dumfries to Drumlanrig Castle, with some incredible gardens and a good light lunch.

Two shots from the rear of the castle and one from the front .

The impressive driveway in.

The surrounding countryside.

The gardens were spectacular and so full of wonderful insects that need as much attention as the flowers.

An Artichoke head shining in the sunshine.

A Ruby Tiger Moth caterpillar.

26th.

Our house has been totally taken over by gifts from friends and neighbours including chocolates , bubbly and flowers, plants and bouquets, so here are some of the flowers now adorning our home.

Plus a total of 33 cards.

Going to take a while to get over what a hectic, enjoyable month this has been. But worth every second. looking forward to the wife’s nineteith now.

Thanks everyone for your contribution.

29th.

Can you believe it this week we started our second year of living here and the first village event I covered in my blog was the annual flower show, which we went to again this year. A true coming together of the village which next year I am determined to enter some of my greenhouse veg and some photos. Below are a few of the beautiful blooms that I could never compete with.

That ends a very busy month, looking forward to a quieter month in September, but you never know what is around the corner do we?

Most most months are special, but this year August is extra special, the second half of the month has all the historic events anniversaries, but this half has a real great occasion.For four days commencing the seventh all our family will be together, my two sons, their wife and partner and our grandson, plus us two old codgers for the first time ever seven instead of six thanks to our new grandson. All I will say is I will try and get as much of the blog out excluding those four days as they will be precious family time. One exception may happen I may include a Trout as I take him fishing for the first time and are praying he will catch either on his own rod or take over mine P.S. on the 9th took him fishing in the pouring rain and we caught, nought, but he said he had a great time and wants to go again.

2nd.

You go out on a sunny Sunday for a pleasant walk only all you think about is what sort of people do what is below, how have we brought up a nation of children that have no thought for the beautiful countryside they live amongst and just throw their drink cans on the grass verge. Just annoys me grately.

All youngster drinks not adult drinks, so why?

then you walk a half mile on and in o0ne hundred yards you capture these three on your camera.

A Peacock Butterfly.

A Painted Lady Butterfly.

A Red Admiral Butterfly.

All three enjoying the rare sunshine we are having today instead of the showers of the last three days.

8th.

Took the family to Culzean Castle and started the tour by feeding the deer, my youngest son is head ranger there and was in charge of the feeding so a special treat for us all. Below are some of the animals from the deer park.

The boss of the herd a magnificent Red Deer Stag, still in velvet but due to shed that any day.

Such beautiful eyebrows and lashes on this female Fallow Deer.

A young Fallow buck.

Here he is showing off his delicate beauty.

Just a couple more mature bucks.

One of this year’s new calves.

9th.

Spot the wren taken through the bedroom window hurrying about first thing in the morning.

12th.

Great excitement all day getting ready for the near total eclipse, but typical got the camera set up on a tripod three dark filters on the lens and thirty minutes before it was starting in comes the clouds. Never got to see it at all and as the next total eclipse in the U.K. is 2090 I guess I won’t be around to see another one. One bonus with all those filters on I got some unusual and interesting shots of the cloud formations with the sun hidden, below is just one example of what I got.

I think it looks more like a landscape than clouds I know one follower who might just want to paint this image (J.R.)

This Saturday (18th) I have been writing this blog for NINE years and I still have some wonderful friends who have followed throughout this long and most probably boring journey for some of them, so a big thank you. A special thank you to my daughter in law who started me on this journey and has encouraged me all the way.

16th.

Set the moth trap out last night which attracted a fair few different species of moth along with several hundred of the dreaded midges that our west coast is famous for. I had seven new species to me including seven Garden Tiger moths of which I have included below, a very beautiful moth.

The first one in the egg cartons below the attracting lamp is the Garden Tiger Moth, plus the smaller white one which is a Common Plume moth.

These Tigers are so pretty, more like a butterfly than a moth. Who is really aware of what is flying around are gardens at night?

Released the seven I caught into the shade of the Willow and on return four hours later one was still visible hidden in the shade.

This one is a bit strange, not a good shot of it but it is in the collection pots I use.

At first on looking it up I thought it was a common moth called a Lappet, but on further inspection I THINK it is a male Drinker moth. Although very rare outside East Anglia it has more features that identify it as a Drinker The diagonal line on the wing goes to the tip which the Lappet doesn’t have, it has the two white dots in front of that line that the Drinker has, so I am sticking to the fact that I think it is a Drinker. The snout reminds me of a Shrew. I have had conformation that due to climate change they are indeed now found in this area.

Just to add to my military collection a RAF Atlas doing circuits and bumps at Prestwick this afternoon, turning for its approach over the village. Later we had a Boing 767 belonging to the Italian Air Force take off but I was a bit slow getting my camera and it was gone before I captured it.

20th.

On the look out now for different planes that are landing at Prestwick and today had two regulars a Ryanair coming in from Malaga, plus a Cargo Lux 747 that comes every other day from Houston Texas.

Sorry about the fir tree top in this one.

To finish the day off we had this RAF Poseidon doing circuits and landings for about an hour before heading off home.

26th.

I know that Ragwort is poisonous to cattle and horses, but you have got to admit it is a very attractive weed, which this one only has one fly on, it does attract insects.

The area we live in has a very high percentage of Creeping Thistle and as you can see from todays walk it does attract insects and I love the seed heads.

27th.

This Warbler (my guess is Chiff-Chaff) was very happy to sit on top of my greenhouse and though I took it through the glass of the dining room window I felt it was posing for me.

28th.

Today I looked out on the lawn to see this very small visitor having a good feast on the Clover in the lawn, a Common Shrew. Not a very old one and I am not sure if it was blind or not, as I was able to get really close to it even nudging it with my finger once. With the Magpies and the Jackdaws about I realised that if they came into the garden it would soon be a tasty lunch for them , so I caught it in a cloth and freed it in the undergrowth of the nature reserve next door. Let’s hope it survives?

Here’s to the next nine years of a blog I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoy putting them together, even if it may be via an old folks home. 🙂

Well we had a few days of decent weather in June but no real summer prolonged weather and as I write this on the third we have had three days of wet windy weather, yesterday being more like Autumn than Summer.

It is my turn to have a boat out on the syndicate loch on Monday and that I am afraid will not happen as heavy rain and strong winds are forecast as a big weather feature builds up over the Atlantic that will hit us most of next week. But at least we got out for a walk today in between showers. There story of people on the West coast of Scotland being born with webbed feet may well be true after all.

3rd.

Some shots from today’s walk.

A fat baby waiting for mum to feed it.

Two fat babies ganging up on mum.

The bird experts are telling us not to feed our birds in feeders over the Summer to stop (mainly Finches) birds from catching the canker that is killing so many birds, spread through their saliva. So I am feeding a lot less each day and spreading it in different areas on the lawns and gardens daily to ensure that each area does not get feed accumilating in any one area and not repeating feeding in that spot for three to four days, hence lessening the risk.

The House Sparrows love this as it makes life easier to feed their young as illustrated above, we have had anything up to thirty Sparrows in the garden at any one time, but unfortunately that attracts the Crows, Magpie and Jackdaw into the garden and frightens away the smaller birds, though the big birds do get a feed we tend to scare them off after a while to feed the small ones and their babes.

Some attractive wildflowers on the walk, this is Lady’s Bedstraw.

Meadowsweet is everywhere and I was not aware of the Bee approaching the flower until I put it on the computer, an added bonus.

Purple Vetch also called Bird Vetch.

Red Clover and yes I did see this Bee on it before I took the shot.

Most of the Maple shrub in the garden is great shades of green except this one branch showing Autumn colours already.

A little self indulgence now, on our walk with rain clouds around us, insect life was prolific and this bought out three Swift. I have never been to really get any photos that were not a blur, even though these were taken from some distance and cropped down and are mainly silhouette’s I was fairly pleased with the result. Though I must admit these were the only three out of about twenty shots that were any good.

A gliding Swallow.

Wings up.

Wings down. This shows to me that their power comes from the fact that they use the maximum limitations of their wings to propel themselves. My equivalent is in a boat short use of the oars do not propel you as the full strokes do.

My life in the garden is now complete.

A newly purchased picnic bench to watch the fish in the pond while eating and a relaxing chair to sit , watch the fish, listen to the sound of the water flowing and fall asleep. Heaven.

5th.

Baby House Martins freshly fledged and being fed by parents while sitting on a security fence protecting a gas installation, when all around them are plenty of trees and not next to a main road, typical children.

7th.

Today we went into Ayr for our usual weekly shop , but was made aware that the park in the town centre where the war memorial stands had an exhibition to make people aware of soldiers of Ayr that died in the battle of the Somme in the First World War. I found it very moving and make no apologies about the photos I am bombarding you with. Each statue had a persons name and age on a board and a QR code that you could get more details on that person.

The symbol of that war was the Poppy as the fields they fought in were covered in blooming poppies. This display was stones laid on the war memorial and hand painted by school children and adults of poppies.

The labels attached to each statue.

I was unaware that so many dogs were used to carry medicines, ammunition, gun carriages, etc.

Plus of course horses for the heavier equipment.

Pigeons for sending messages.

I have taken loads more shots but most of them were ruined by the surrounding buildings and road signs around the square park, what particularly annoyed me was the scaffolding on the back of the park. As you are aware all the above shots and all of my shots are only cropped and that is the extent of my post processing. But some good shots were ruined by that scaffold that I went against all my principles and altered some images by just taking out the background of the shot to make a silhouette, something I have never done before, so see below.

Not brilliant and you will not see them again on here but detested the buildings distracting some emotional images.

8th.

Todays walk was actually on a bright, sunny warm day (at last) and that meant plenty of insects about, so I took advantage and snapped a few.

I bet this snail was a bit warm in it’s shell today.

Typical a dark patch behind the fly doesn’t make it pop out like it should.

Not sure what this plant is? It could be the wild carrot, but whatever it is the insects loved it, magnified the bottom shot and it has at least fourteen insects on the one head, incredible.

A young Rowan showing off in the bright sunlight.

10th.

By the time I had gone indoors , collected my camera I only just (literally)caught the tail end of this aircraft going into Prestwick airport. It was a Boing Globemaster 111 belonging to the United Arab Emirates Air Force. Prestwick is becoming a very important, stratigic airport for military aircraft travelling across the pond or going the other way to stop and refuel. A R.A.F. Poseidon took off over us this morning and we often get American military air craft coming in as well. All seven R.A.F. Airbus Voyager tanker aircraft are going to be based here for five months while their home base Brize Norton in Oxfordshire has repairs done to its runway, so hope to get some photos of them. The airfield is owned by the Scottish Government so they are making more money than usual with refuelling all these aircraft.

12th.

A parade of old(ish) trucks came through the village today on their annual charity run and of the forty odd trucks that a photographed here are just a few.

I called this blog “Living in Hope” and hope came through in the end it is now the sixteenth and since those shots on the eighth we have had wall to wall or dawn to dusk sunshine and meant to continue for another week. Loving it, though it does give me a few extra jobs ( watering the garden , painting window ledges outdoors etc.) it is so gorgeous to see things growing, in fact I am thinking of asking M&S if they want a contract for cucumbers. “Not just any cucumbers, organically grown MY cucumbers”.

As I said in the last blog the weather had been terrible every day of the fourteen of that blog. So today to start this blog off we have a lovely day, I wonder if that is the end of the rotten weather, I doubt it, this is the West Coast of Scotland.

15th.

The insects seem to know that this may be a short break in the weather so they are all out in force this morning, this Bee is being very optimistic if it thinks it will get much pollen out of this flower.

While the beautiful looking fly just absorbs the heat that has missed.

Trying to improve my ability to photograph yellow flowers in sunlight, struggled with this one.

Went for a walk and even the verge side grasses look great in the sun.

Another Red Damsel Fly by the river this time.

A Lily in the Scout Garden.

The view from our river walk across the peat moors to Bogton Loch and beyond.

16th.

Went for a drive up to Loch Doon, passing Craigengillan House (the Laird around us estate).

Plus a couple of images looking down on Loch Doon.

20th.

A common bird around the world the Female House Sparrow, but even still it has it’s beauty.

22nd

Gave my big lens (150-600) a long awaited outing (it is so heavy), and captured this lone tree way up on the top of the hill. But then used it for some closer shots by the river.

Glistening jewels on the water courtesy of the sunshine.

There is always one blade of grass ready to spoil your image.

23rd

A Pond Skater, one of five that have made their home on my new pond, so fast over the water and really active I thank this one for posing for a fraction of a second. Not sure where they are coming from but on the 26th (just three days later there are fourteen of them on the water, a sign of a healthy pond I read).

26th.

Had a morning at Colzean Castle just a gentle walk around on the hottest day recorded for this area since records began at twenty NINE Centigrade. Though keeping under the trees and in the shade as much as possible it felt fine. Of course plenty of photo opportunities.

Can you spot the bird of prey? I think it is a Hen Harrier, but way off on the distant moors on our way to the castle. It is slightly right and below centre and not bad considering I was miles away and only with a 70-300 lens.

The view across to Arran.

I wouldn’t say you are ugly-but.

Dust bath time.

“Can someone take my coat off please”.

This group of trees, with so many different shades and colours, really caught my eye.

Think with all that glass it may be hot in there today.

Just looked up into the top of an old Scots Pine and had to photograph it.

Just a few of the many shots I took of the flowers truly at their peak on a day like today.

This Rose was climbing right to the top of it’s supporting tree.

Grasses just glistened in the sun.

The avenue of trees on the way back to the car.

27th.

My first time ever in my life I have had a greenhouse, so pleased with how production is going so far.

My Cherry Tomątoes.

Mini Red Peppers not turned red yet.

This much Basil I could open a pesto shop.

Though only small at present my Cucumbers are my pride and joy.

Nearly the end of the month and yes the weather did improve for us three decent days of sunshine and high temperatures (29C or 84F), well for us anyway. Now back down to nearer the average so better than the first half.

Will finish this month a bit early as I am in the middle of decorating our lounge and do not see much chance to get out with the camera, if something does happen I can always add it to July’s blog.