18th.
Now one of our sons lives in Ayrshire instead of Sheffield we get a few more trips away for weekends. A bit closer and easier to get to (the exception being the M8 through Glasgow, which I hate), so I always leave far to early, but we then have another excuse to walk the sea/estuary front in Ayr. Parking on the front and walking up as far as the River Doon is a smashing little walk with plenty to see, as you will see in the next few shots.
A mixture of Redshank and Turnstones taking advantage of the low tide, though a few had their heads tucked under their wings having a wee snooze.
A Red Breasted Merganser a first for me to see.
A mixture of Swans, Gulls and the above birds all congregated near the River Doons mouth, every other time we have walked along this stretch we have seen the Kestrel, but not today.
Also along the front was a couple of areas of a wildflower meadow which was so colourful on a fairly dull day.
20th.
When possible I try and get a wee fish on this lovely Loch Loch Belston, today I was down at the water at the unthinkable hour of seven in the morning to get three hours in before the household were up and breakfasted. Took a boat out to roughly the far side of the picture and fished solid, but not even a sniff of a fish, on the last two occasions I have gone home with two three pound fish and a happy chappy. No fish but so good to be out in a boat, doing what I love and all to myself for the first two hours, wonderful. But to top it all, after the flower show (below) the family were chilling for the afternoon, I was “allowed” to have another two hours out in a boat. No fish, but, I had a visitor for fifteen minutes, sometimes flying right over my head, scouring the water, with no success (just like me) a young Osprey. What a thrill, only trouble was I never had my camera with me.
Once home and changed we all went out for coffee followed by a visit to Ayr Racecourse, not to watch the horses but to attend the Ayr Flower Show. below are some off the flower arrangement contestants efforts.
24th.
Back home and just to prove I can catch fish (occasionally) went to our club water and caught this beautiful wild Brown Trout weighing in at one and three quarter pounds, a good size for a wild Brownie and very tasty it will be.
26th.
I have shown similar shots in previous years but this is the annual queue to get into Blair Castles Horse International Show, I will try to find out the attendance over the three days but it is a large number of people attending and causes chaos on the A9 and roads within the village. First shot is coming off the A9 into the village and the second (which is equal in distance from the previous shot) is the end of the queue as they go the half mile up the drive to the castle reckon that short journey takes twenty minutes.
27th.
This year has been a good year for breeding Collar Doves and as I put the morning seed out the doves are nowhere to be seen, within two minutes of carrying that out eight , sometimes ten doves are down feeding . Either in the three troughs or the cups which are intended for the smaller birds, the doves on the cups is always amusing as they have a job to balance as illustrated below.
Parent in the middle and two youngsters each side.
“This cup is mine”
Cannot sit on this one so a balancing act is required.
29th.
Some type of Daisy growing in a pot, as you come around the corner of the house there is this plant full of these beautiful blooms, cheers you up in this miserable so called summer.
31st.
Just thought I would finish this month off with some of our flowers still looking good in the garden despite the dull, wet, cold month this has been.Just loved the flies meeting up on the last shot.