Early Summer

This continuing sunny weather is almost too much for the sheep, who lie, panting, in the available shade. Despite the lack of rain the grass has come on well, so the lambs are growing fat - the ones in this picture are amongst the earliest to be born this season.

In the damp ground around the lochans and along the shore line the flags are coming into flower. This is Iris pseudocorus, the yellow flag, important in this part of Scotland as the home of the shy corn crake.

When we first came to Kilchoan we used to hear corn crakes but, although one was reported in the village last year, we haven't heard them for some time. They're an endangered bird in the UK but there are supposed to be thousands of them in Russia - and the Russians are welcome to them as they have a dreadfully loud, rasping call during the courting season, usually in the middle of the night when you're trying to get some sleep.

Another seasonal visitor in these parts is Geologicus studenticus, the tapping undergraduate. They're at their most common during late May into June, their favoured habitats being the foreshore....

....and the hills above the village. They are easily identified as they carry a small rucksack and a hammer, with which they tap the rocks, presumably to disturb insects which they then consume. A subspecies which is uncommon around here are those who are correctly dressed in high vis jackets and plastic hard hats.