Each week the Scottish Snippets Newsletter includes a number of photographs which illustrate the 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!
With the large number of days this week with rain and cloud, the most appropriate illustration of this week's weather might have been of puddles with raindrops or dripping umbrellas. However, this picture taken near Kinross of the low clouds settling on the Lomond Hills and Loch Leven in the foreground is perhaps more atmospheric!
This grey heron at the RSPB Vane Farm wildlife reserve looks as though he/she is a bit disconsolate in the gloomy, wet weather. But in fact herons often stand like this. When hunting for food, the neck is usually elongated, ready to strike at any passing fish. Alternatively, it paddles through shallow water, stamping its feet to stir up flat fish, crabs and larvae.
The sun broke through at last on Thursday, much to the delight of this Red Admiral butterfly which soaked up the warmth - when first spotted it was resting on the woodwork of a garden bench in Finlaystone Country Estate on the Inverclyde/Renfrewshire border. It then moved to the flowers of a winter-flowering jasmine.
The bulbs of the Nerine make a bright splash of colour on dull days but really come into their own once the sun begins to shine, as here.
This Clematis growing on a wall in Finlaystone Country Estate has been producing a succession of large blooms since the summer. Although there has been a lot of dull days in recent weeks, the temperature has remained high for the time of year.
The flowers on this rambling rose, reaching into the blue sky, may not last for much longer, but we can enjoy it while it lasts.
If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page
