Each week the Rampant Scotland Newsletter includes a number of photographs which illustrate the weather and the seasons, plus the flora and fauna of the current week around Scotland. There are often so many such graphics of Scottish subjects worth including that this separate "colour supplement" is created where some of the best pictures can be displayed in a larger format. Here is this week's crop of Scottish views!
It must have been touch and go between this early Camellia coming into bloom and the overnight frost nipping the petals and turning them brown. Having Camellias flowering as early as this is not the norm, but a sheltered position against a wall in the Finlaystone Country Estate in Renfrew often produces early delights such as this.
Winter flowering Jasmine, as its name applies, is often seen in the middle of winter in Scotland. The flowers often last for a long time - despite the impact of overnight frost. This rambler version of Jasmine is often trained against a wall and in the right conditions this shrub can grow to 15 feet high.
The ice on lochs in central Scotland posed a few problems for water-borne birds. This Gull (probably a young Herring Gull) was somewhat puzzled by the football which had appeared on the ice. It clearly wondered whether there might be something for eating inside, as it pecked away at it.
This Black-headed Gull (in its winter plumage, without its black head) looks somewhat forlorn, standing on the ice at Hogganfield Loch in Glasgow.
The usual flowering time for Rhododendrons in Scotland is mid-spring to mid-winter but there are a few winter-flowering varieties too. They can be affected by frost damage but this magnificent specimen in Finlaystone Country Estate is in a sheltered spot and is covered in deep red blooms every winter.
This is not the best Rhododendron picture I've ever taken, but the plant faces north in a shady position, so there was not a lot of light for a sharp picture. But getting a photo of a rhododendron at all at this time of year is a pleasure.
If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page
