Meadowing
Last weekend we covered a lot of ground. In summer, Skye gets quite busy - particularly in the touristy bits - but there are always places to escape all that, and there are plenty near home.
It was warm and sunny (don’t be fooled by the clouds in the photographs, they were pretty insignificant). So we took a walk out past the castle, across the sweeping fields and down to the water. It reminded me of being back home in Lancashire in the summer. Long grass and wildflowers.
The cottongrass is a bit more plentiful here though.
We saw lots of moths and butterflies, and the grasshoppers were chirping away. There were buttercups and cuckoo flowers, Ragged Robin and orchids. Joe made a beeline down to the water because he likes poking about in rockpools and seeing if there are any fish (there were a few tiny ones).
I know I don’t usually include black and white pictures on the blog but some of the landscapes lend themselves to it. Others require full colour; that way you can see the blue sky and silver sea and the yellow of the Maritime Sunburst (best name I’ve found for it) lichen…
The next day, we returned to Struan jetty to look for shore crabs. It was so warm, the sea air had an almost soporific effect. On the adults, at least…
Joe has been asking for his own blog. I agreed, and started thinking of domain names and went back to my old stomping ground (Blogger). But then I just thought, why not give him a little corner of Frond & Feather? It’ll be easier and let’s face it, this could just be a short-lived fad, in which case I can just shelve it and move on.
But let’s not be disparaging. He enjoys looking at photos and thinking up little stories to go with them, and I’m happy to encourage him. If you’d like to see more then just click on ‘Joe’s Nature Notes’ at the top of the screen/in the site menu.
Do you like the monochrome photographs? I do. One place we’ll be visiting on our trip back down south in August is Ikea. I want to get lots of picture frames. We’ve got a bit of a gallery wall going downstairs, and the upstairs landing is perfect for lots of our drawings and prints and photos.
The countdown to the summer holidays is well and truly on. They’re having their school trip today (to the Coral Beach) and the the themed picnic took place yesterday: it was Pirates. Joe ate a lot and loved it. Tomorrow we’re off to the gala in a nearby village, then next week will probably be literally fun and games before school closes its doors for six weeks.
I don’t know if the heatwave will reach us, but I’m hoping that this temperate weather lasts…
