Strathy Forest

Smokey and I went for a walk into Strathy Forest yesterday, because I wanted to see if I could find the rocking stone again.



You stand on top of it and wobble from side to side and it makes an immense noise that, before the forest was planted, you would have been able to hear all over the valley:



Both times I've been in that forest I've been lucky and seen deer:



She and her two friends disappeared sharpish - Smokey was so excited by the smell that he ran the entire length of the loch and disappeared into the forest after them. Thank goodness for whistle training, but it made for one tired hound:



And my best wildlife photos from the afternoon? Taken less than 20 feet from the main road, where there are golden plovers nesting right beside the track!

An hour in the garden

Inspired by Springwatch, I thought I'd try to get some pictures of the wildlife around the garden at the moment.

I started with the starlings in the letterbox. They're still feeding madly - caterpillars for breakfast again:





Then I headed down the fields and had to take a couple of gratuitously cute rabbit shots:





In our bottom field we have a skylark nesting:



And the sheep are, as ever, a joy to photograph, though I wish I hadn't taken this one through sheep netting - I'll have to shoot her again on a sunny day:



Then I topped up the bird feeders and settled down to see what turned up. This is my shot of the day:



It got busy:



The sparrows brought their three fledglings down from the kitchen roof - here are two of them stretching their wings, though I think they look like they're about to burst into a rousing music hall chorus!



Lots more bird pictures if you click on any of the above to go through to my Flickr account, but I'll leave you with this picture of Dunnet beach taken last weekend. Remember all those shots they show on the news of beaches so packed that every square inch of sand is covered with towels? This is what the most popular beach in the area looked like on the hottest Sunday afternoon of the year so far (about 25C):



We counted 18 families on its two-mile stretch :o)