Each week the Scottish Snippets Newsletter includes a number of photographs which illustrate the weather, flora and fauna of the current week around Scotland. On occasions, there are so many such graphics worth including that a separate "colour supplement" is created so as not to totally overload the Newsletter. Here is this week's crop!
It is not often that I can use a photo taken in the dark to illustrate the current weather in Scotland. But it was the high pressure system, creating clear skies, that brought the temperature rattling down this week. So this shot of the moon rising in a cloudless sky above Hogganfield Loch in Glasgow (with the greylag geese and the swans still sailing serenely across the water, despite the lateness of the hour) became possible.
Those clear skies are prominent again in this picture of Dumbarton Castle, taken from the south bank of the river Clyde. "Dun Breatann" or fortress of the Britons, has a recorded history as a stronghold which is longer than any other fortification in Britain. The earliest reference is to St Patrick who wrote about it in 450AD.
A few weeks ago, I commented that although the resident Greylag Geese were still to be seen, the large numbers of migrants that come south from Iceland or Scandinavia had not yet made an appearance. But the cold weather we have been experiencing was also affecting further north and many hundreds of these geese arrived at Hogganfield Loch in Glasgow on Tuesday. This picture shows them with their "undercarriage down" as they came in to land. It is amazing how they manage to avoid one another in the process. By the following day, most had departed, possibly flying on further south.
Once they had landed, all the Greylags headed in one direction - to clamber onto the shore and start feeding on the grass. The resident Greylags have learned, however, that humans will provide extra "treats" and easier pickings in the form of bread.
Another winter visitor, as far as central Scotland is concerned, is the Goldeneye. This diving duck breeds in the Highlands of Scotland and northern Europe and then begins to move south from August to December.
This will probably be the last picture of a rose this year! That's not raindrops on the outer petals - it's frozen dew.
If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page
