Scotland : The Birds In The Meadow

I’ve got lots to share…

I’ve just got back from the Isle of Skye, a place of such ridiculous beauty that I’m almost stumped as to what to say about it first. The journey itself was mind blowing – a two day long, three train extravaganza including one of the most dramatic and beautiful train journeys in the world, from Glasgow to Mallaig. Sure we could have taken a sleeper train pretty much the whole way, but I wouldn’t want to sleep through a journey that revealed a red deer standing aloof on a bleak moor, mountain ranges framing him on each side, or a solitary seal basking by the side of a glittering loch. We passed Ben Nevis, tallest of the Scottish mountains and rattled over the viaduct which (in the film at least) carries Harry Potter and friends to Hogwarts in style. Searing yellow gorse competed with the improbable, incandescent greens of springtime; the season seems to be a full month behind London and all the more beautiful for it.

We were there just short of a week, but in that time I gorged myself on beauty. I’m still trying to identify orchids I saw in profusion and the birds that sang in the tree near our tent every evening – these habitats were unfamiliar to me and the flora and fauna excitingly novel. Needless to say I have many pictures to share – once I’ve unpacked, caught up on sleep and pulled myself together generally, you’ll be the first to know.

Rubber Duckies…the sequel!

Further to my last post, it would seem that rubber ducks the world over are making desperate bids for freedom, as sixteen hundred of the bath toys made a break for it during an annual charity duck race on the Water of Leith in Scotland.

“The heavy rain meant the currents on the Water of Leith were so strong the ducks shot straight past the event’s 20 volunteer “catchers” on Sunday.

Race co-ordinator Stevi Manning said: ‘We usually lose a dozen or so ducks every year, but we’ve never seen anything on this scale. They just picked up speed and kept going’. Staff at pubs and restaurants in Leith described seeing a “bizarre” parade of ducks passing by.

Steve Legget, bar manager of Cruz on the Shore, said: “It was unbelievable. It looked like there were thousands of them coming down the river and people were trying to get them out from under the bridge.

‘We didn’t have a clue what was going on, but we’ve got a couple of them on show in the bar now.’

The charity duck race has been running between Dean Village and Stockbridge since 1988. Despite the setback, this year’s event raised £2930, which will be split between the Sick Kids Foundation and Lifecare, a care centre built at the former Stockbridge House community centre.”

Just this evening seen my first swifts of the year over Finsbury park, flying in the most beautiful late evening sky.