A Grand Day Out

A couple of days ago it was such lovely weather (for Scotland) that I decided to have a day out nature-watching. I took a little trip to Red Moss Nature Reserve & Threipmuir Reservoir at the foot of the Pentland Hills where I had a quiet, leisurely stroll.
I say quiet but early on the peace was shattered by hordes of oinks on horseback (about twenty of them) trotting down the lane from the reservoir shouting "three cheers for the dog walkers.....hip, hip hoorah!". I think they were trying to be sarcastic.
Anyway once they had passed I had a lovely time walking along the boardwalk at Red Moss enjoying the flowers, insects and birds before heading up to Threipmuir Reservoir. The weather was brilliant as you can probably make out from the photos below and the birds and butterflies were flitting about everywhere.
I saw one of my favourite little butterflies the Orange-tip being mobbed by a couple of other small butterflies which I believe were Green-veined Whites, who were determined to stop the Orange-tip from getting at their source of nectar in the Bluebells.........it's a war out there you know!
The damselflies were making the most of their time to grab a few insects before the dragonflies emerge and start hunting them, in their world you can be either prey, predator or both.
On the way back from Threipmuir I notice a little path into the woodland which had an old sign next to it which said 'Danger Do Not Enter' so I just had to have a look. I didn't find anything particularly dangerous but I did hear a cuckoo calling so I thought I would try and find it.
I could not find the cuckoo but I did come across an abandoned stone building which was very interesting. It looked a bit like a cottage but was very long and did not have a lot of windows, it must have been abandoned many years ago because there were mature trees which must be over fifty years old growing inside it.
Just then my phone went and I had to hurry back to the Gyle Shopping Centre to pick up my wife Moira who had been having a completely different (and apparently just as enjoyable) stroll through the mall for the last few hours. She never took any pictures but here are some I took:



Boardwalk at Red Moss

Cotton-grass



Large Red Damselfly

Tree-lined Lane (without the horsemen of the Apocalypse)

Green-veined White on Dandelion



Orange-tip & Weevil on Bluebells



Robin in a tree



Threipmuir Reservoir



Overgrown Indoor Plants