Nature Friday revenge...

I bet you would be annoyed, as I was, if your owner spent the sunny part of the day cycling with her Thursday morning 'girls' and only took you out to look for some Nature Friday inspiration later on, when it had started raining.

To compound my irritation, when I spotted a fine display of cuckoo flower (aka Lady's Smock) Gail seemed hesitant to follow me along the overgrown path to where she could photograph the delicate lilac blooms close up.

Her excuse was that she had noticed an abundance of stinging nettles beside the path and she was still wearing her cycling shorts.

Of course us WFTs have furs designed specially for romping through undergrowth unscathed, and remembering how I'd earlier that day been abandoned in favour of the bicycle, I put my paw down and insisted Gail follow me with her camera (phone), nettles or no nettles.

Did you know that the cuckoo flower is so called because its first blooms reliably coincide with the arrival of the bird itself each spring?

Cuckoo flowers are common round these parts, but that doesn't, I think, mean they're not a pleasing sight.

Gail's red and blotchy nettle stung calves are a less attractive proposition, and so I'll spare you any photos of those...  

Happy Nature Friday Friends! Do go and visit the other posts in the LLB Gang's blog hop.

Pretty wildflowers and Bertie's rear end....

Which pictures do you prefer?

Cuckoo flower

Bertie's rear end

Wild garlic

Bertie's rear end

Pink purslane

Bertie's rear end

Garlic mustard

Bertie's rear end

Red campion

Bertie's rear end

Did you enjoy our riverside walk? The path is accessed from behind the supermarket (Sainsbury's at Garthdee) car park, so you get a 'two for the price of one' outing!

Bertie's front end! 

Happy Nature Friday friends! Do go and visit the other posts in the LLB Gang's wonderful blog hop.

A new walk for Nature Friday!

My owner Gail never tires of telling me how lucky I am, to share my life with someone who loves exploring new places on foot, with a dog for company.

To keep the peace at home, I don't point out how lucky some of my friends are, to live with humans who, on returning from holidays, actually bring back gifts for their pets rather than blethering on with excuses about small bicycle panniers...

I digress. I must say I did enjoy our latest wee adventure. On Monday evening after supper, Gail put on her coat and bundled me into the car saying "come on Bertie, the sun is still shining, let's make the most of the long light northern evenings, I want to check out a footpath along the coast from Old Portlethen."

So we drove about six miles south of Aberdeen, and on leaving the parking area, saw this sign.

Well of course, now that I am a sensible nine year old WFT, I know perfectly well to watch my paws when venturing near cliffs and steep slopes, and so I admired the late season cuckoo flowers from a safe distance.

We then passed by a cluster of prettily painted wooden rowing boats beached in a sheltered cove, and the smarter of my readers will have deduced from the shadows that we are looking out east to the North Sea, with the sun low in the sky behind us.

I think it would be fun to come here early morning and see the sunrise, but lazy old Gail seems unconvinced.

The coast path is well defined at the start,

But on reaching the edge of a field of rape it becomes narrow and uneven, so I found myself waiting patiently as Gail stumbled along on her somewhat wobbly ankles.

At one point, I nearly disappeared amid the long grass and cow parsley.

By a marshy spot I stopped to admire these yellow irises

And then we turned inland and I raced Gail back to the car. Can you guess who won?

Well I hope you too enjoyed our new Nature Friday walk. It's quite a short one - not much more than a mile. Maybe we'll return later in the year. This is what it looks like on Google Earth. 

Once again, many thanks to our lovely friends Arty, Jakey and Rosy for hosting the Nature Friday blog hop. Do now go and visit all the other wonderful posts.