Rain spread back to the whole country again today, although thankfully the weather forecast says it will be short-lived. The female Osprey at Loch Garten has spent the last three days planted on top of her nest sheltering her chicks from the onslaught. However when I checked this morning, (before the rain started again), the chicks were sitting in the sun, hopefully drying out a bit. Ospreys aren’t affected by bad weather as much as the other Loch Garten specialty, the Capercaillie. Research has shown that wet weather in June, particularly when the spells are prolonged, leads to many chick deaths. The news is not all bad though. An RSPB press release on 22nd June reported a doubling of the Scottish population (from 1000 to 2000 birds) since the last survey in 1999.
At least some of our commoner birds are having good breeding success. Today there were an adult woodpigeon with two enormous juveniles waddling about on the playing fields on the east side of Arthur’s Seat, and a party of 7 Jackdaws (2 ads and 5 juveniles?) on the grassy patch behind our house in Paisley.
Spent part of the day in Edinburgh. Struck again by how common Poppies are, compared to here in the west. Favoured sites include field edges and road verges, but also waste places including a gap site between two shops. Intrigued by patches of waist-high, blue-flowered plants on roadsides at the east end of the bypass. I wonder if they could be Flax. Also noticed some impressive patches of Purple Loosestrife (Edinburgh’s unofficial plant) on the southern slopes of Arthur’s Seat. Fulmars still attending nests on the cliffs at Salisbury Crags, although I was in too much of a hurry to investigate.