Scottish Borders Trip

In early June a bunch of us (me, Moira, Mary, Florence, Danny & Charlie) had a weekend trip to Peebles and we explored a few places around the Scottish Borders. Sounds like the Famous Five but there was six of us and no dog.
The weather was very changeable with lots of rain followed by some sunshine, followed by more rain i.e. typical Scottish summer weather. This meant that the rivers and burns were very high and very fast flowing as you can see in the picture below of Charlie beside the Cuddy Burn

Anyway the weather did not stop us from getting out and about we just had to wear sunglasses, hats and anoraks. This weather was ideal for growing plants and it made all the countryside seem green and lush. Peebles was looking particularly splendid in the sunshine and I managed to capture the following photo between showers of rain.

We visited the botanic gardens at Dawyck when we were down there and managed to get round the garden walk without getting too wet but we did have to shelter under some of their magnificent trees when a heavy shower of rain came along. Here is a photo of a magnicent tree and another of Moira sheltering under a small shrub (she was pretending to be a fairy, elf, gnome or something like that)

The gardens at Dawyck are very beautiful and well worth a visit if you are ever down in that neck of the woods, here are some photos of flowers, views, etc. from our visit to Dawyck. Don't ask me what the flowers are called as I haven't got a clue! I'm OK with wild flowers but not the cultivated ones.

Waterfall at Dawyck



Blooming lovely



Pretty in Pink



View through the trees

 Of course these gardens were not just pleasing to the eye but they were also great habitats for wildlife and the place was buzzing with birds and insects. My particular favourite was a little, bright green, orb-web spider which seemed to prefer to crawl about on my trouser leg rather than in the shrubbery where it should be. Who says spiders are not cute?

The next day we went for a walk along the banks of the river Tweed and the weather stayed dry so we saw quite a few different birds including Oyster Catcher, Grey Wagtail, Goosander, Pied Wagtail, Heron, Buzzard, Mallard and Carrion Crow.

We also enjoyed the masses of wildflowers that were out along the track beside the river and although they are not as big and colourful as the cultivated plants at Dawyck I think they are just as beautiful (and I know some of their common names!) Hope you enjoy the photos I took of the wildflowers

Teddy Edward

Comfrey



Hawthorn, Crosswort & Germander Speedwell



White Campion



White Campion Close-up