I’m pretty sure I said there were flowers - right!? They are glorious - Buttercups, thistles of many varieties, Red Clover like huge lush strawberries, daisies and sea-lavender, fragrant honeysuckle, blowsy white and deep pink wild roses, meadowsweet, cheerful Mayweed, Feverfew, Tufted vetch, white water lilies (a big surprise) - and so many more that I can’t identify, yet! Oh, the bonny roads of Scotland .....
Then we were driving through more rugged and wild country. I love it! We were in the northern highlands travelling down the west coast. Common Knapweed (thistle family), Garden Lady’s Mantle (love these names), spearwort and water lobelia - both delicate water plants which show their flowers above water, orchids, heather/heath, gorse, green and golden bracken. And more........
We’ve travelled through a number of national parks - Northwest Sutherland, Assynt-Coigach, Beinn Eighe, Ben Nevis-Glen Coe, and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. It is all stunning and puzzling and fascinating, intriguing and simply beautiful. Here are just a few photos of the many ......
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| Dainty water lily |
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| Garden Lady’s Mantle |
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| Heath Spotted-orchid |
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| Roadside beauty! This is understated compared to other places |
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| Elfin or Breckland Thyme (Thymus serpyllum) |
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| I think this is an Alpine Bartsia but could be a Lousewort - the book is unclear |
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| Wild Angelica |
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| Huge heads of Red Clover |
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| Mayweed growing out between the rocks of a tiny fishing harbour |
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| Tufted Vetch |
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| Lady Bedstraw |
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| A hoverfly like me enjoying the brilliant yellow |
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| Eyebright. These are so tiny and sweet - about 4-5mm. |
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| Very delicate White Dead-nettle. Related to the Stinging Nettle without the stinging hairs |
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| Meadowsweet with its sweet smelling frothy heads all along the road side |
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| Banks of heather - Bell Heather and Cross-leafed Heather |
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| Perhaps a Spear Thistle |
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| Creeping Thistle which they say it is fragrant but I didn’t get close enough to smell it. |
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| There is a place for everyone! |
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| Every village has stunning roses. Like us, roses travelled from China where they were first cultivated 5,000 years ago. |
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| These two look wedded |
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| This pretty thing is a Himalayan Balsam - a long way from home |
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