Fair days and foul

A sunshine yellow dandelion to match the crisp Spring sunshine yesterday, a day when despite the cold, the banks of emerging gorse flowers over the Wastart and the general air of new green growth gave a real feeling of Spring optimism.
Today however,the day lengthens and the cold strengthens - March is living up to 'in like a lamb, out like a lion' and there are blustery gales and sleet squalls, Winter appears to have returned.

Rufus

Grey Granite's excursions have been restricted by the arrival of 8 week old Rufus. A feisty Border Terrier pup.

However she has noticed that the sunshine and warmer weather of the last few days has brought out many wild flowers. The verges near Philorth are spangled with lesser celandines, dandelions and daisies (both so often discounted and ignored for their familiarity) land cress and speedwells. The snowdrops are going over and are being replaced by daffodils.There are enlarged buds ready to burst, particularly on hawthorns. Spring really is here at last.

Butterbur

The three large patches of butterbur at Cortes, have now opened fully and can be identified as the white form. (Petasites albus)The strange, striking white flowers are a conspicuous feature of the verge near the junction with the Peterhead road. The plant has both male and female flowers, borne in broad racimes, more densely clustered in the male plants. Pollination is by insects.

A few small leaves, like those of the related coltsfoot, are just starting to appear, these will eventually be up to about 50cms. Historically the leaves were used to wrap butter, hence the plant's name.

Spring

What a lot we miss by dashing about in our cars. This morning Grey Granite went to the shore at New Aberdour to take some pictures. It was a beautiful sunny day so she parked at the kirk in the village and walked down the brae to the beach. There were larks singing their hearts out and a single plaintive lapwing above the field behind the kirkyard, and at the beach raucous flocks of oystercatchers.

Grey Granite was amazed by how many patches of snowdrops there were at the roadside, a huge sea of them behind the old kirkyard and even a small group on the far side of the den. In the warm sunlight their flowers were splayed fully open.
Down at the shore in the sunny area near the mouth of the den there were patches of coltsfoot and a single, tattered celandine. Spring has indeed arrived.

Second Day of Spring:Wastart Walk

One of Grey Granite's favourite rocks, a small erratic on the high cliff top close to Katty's Loup. Grey Granite particularly likes the isolation of the rock, its distinctive band of quartz and the small lochan reflecting the sky.

Today the sodden Wastart was bejewelled with small temporary lochans catching the afternoon sun. There were gleaming gannets, raucous corvids, soaring gulls, dapper oystercatchers, cormorants wearing their white Spring thigh patches and a pair of unusually vocal herons on the shore at Lochielair. The 'Roosty-Irony Burn' at Haven of Braco has been cleared and the sides scraped to a bare muddy mess. Boulders in the bed of the burn are stained rusty red and there is a surprising number of red sandstone boulders amongst the more usual grey stones. It will be interesting to note the pattern of plant recolonisation over the summer. A little snow remains on the sunless cliffs beyond the Pouk and as yet the Wastart remains devoid of real signs of new growth, the brightest green being water crowfoot in the Mill Burn.