Behind Pitheughie:gorse and lousewort, astonishing swifts

Fragrant Gorse filling the bed of the burn beside the ruins of Pitheughie

The warmth of recent days has coaxed the gorse into sudden flower and there is a fragrant sea engulfing the easterly part of the Wastart, attracting bees and other insects along with a small flock of twites and a few chaffinches. Scolding stonechats were, as is their wont,   perching on the topmost sprigs of the gorse. Evading a large straggling group of walkers we pottered above Pitheughie but noticed that there were small groups of gannets flying east close to the shore at frequent intervals.Swallows and or martins swooped regularly in low elegant arcs over the lochans hunting small insects. From David Attenborough speaking on this morning's Tweet of the Day (BBC Radio4 - catch it on Iplayer) Grey granite learns that swifts regularly fly as much as 500 miles each day in search of food, most of which actually comprises minuscule spiders being carried on gossamer threads. 

Marsh Lousewort, (Pediculous palustris)

Wandering across the boggy areas grey Granite made the annual mistake of taking the first emerging flowers of the semi-parasitic lousewort (Red rattle) for the more exciting spikes of the first orchids.