Thursday 31st August

So here we are at the end of August and it looks like my attempt to coax the buddleia into September flowering will only just succeed for a couple of days.  Three out of five plants have more or less given up the ghost and the other two have just a few blooms left and are promising only a few new ones.

First and last painted lady

There's still the odd red admiral or peacock visiting the garden but basically the show is over for another year.  It makes it all the more heartening that one week ago, a single painted lady appeared, the only one I've noticed in the garden this year. Unfortunately, I just  managed to snap it from the underside but you can see clearly enough what it is.

So the summer is pretty much over and, as every year these days, I'm left to reflect how much more I would ideally have made of it. The old wisdom about not making enough time to stop and stare holds good and one poignant moment this morning underlined it.

I had just gone out to fill the bird table and feed the fishes and turned back for a moment to get something I'd forgotten.  Suddenly the sun came out and I noticed that the fish were already feeding and that the tree bumblebee was on the lavender next to the pond again.  I put my foot up on the small partition wall to just watch for a minute and a red admiral flew down and landed on the knee of my cords, maybe ten inches from my face.  It all lasted but a few seconds but I was momentarily transported into a simple joy that is the real reason for being a nature watcher and possibly for living at all.

Meanwhile, the last two bike rides haven't produced much but there was an amusing little incident on the way up to Loch Ettrick yesterday.  I was suddenly aware of some birds screeching and saw a buzzard fly up into a tree in the field to my right. I stopped to get the binoculars out and spotted a couple of fat looking birds I took to be turkeys. But a couple of cyclists following me identified them as guinea fowl, so a sort of first sighting for me.  They didn't seem very doemesticated but, according to wikipedia scaring off birds of prey is one of the things they are used for.  They also help prevent the spread of lyme disease by eating ticks, so I can think of a couple of other places where I should like to see them introduced!