"Scottish Snippets"

"Colour Supplement"

19 May 2007

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. This separate "colour supplement" displays some more pictures, in a larger format. Here is this week's crop of Scottish views!


This mature Great Crested Grebe fully lives up to its name, with the black frill round its neck and its black head plumes. It dives frequently to catch fish in that razor-sharp bill. If it catches a large fish, it may bring it to the surface before swallowing it. That can lead to gulls swooping down and trying to snatch some of it!


The Great Crested Grebe is famous for its courtship dance, in which the two birds make synchronised dives, face one another, with much head shaking. The male bird will also bring water weed or fish and present it to his mate. The birds here look like youngish birds (the crest is not yet fully developed) but are nevertheless going through the rituals.


Coot chicks must be amongst the ugliest of all young birds. But both parents were working hard to feed their two off-spring and would even compete with one another to grab the bread (best wholemeal from Scottie) being thrown to them.


This female Mallard has a major task shepherding her brood of eleven ducklings and keeping them out of harm's way. She gets no help from her mate - he departs while she is incubating the eggs. But at least, unlike the Coots, the female Mallard doesn't have to directly feed her family - they swim and feed themselves as soon as they are hatched. In fact, she sometimes darts forward and snatches any food before the ducklings can reach it!





The Uefa (European Football/Soccer Association) Cup Final was played in Glasgow on Wednesday and the city was bedecked with banners and flags to make the over 30,000 Spanish football fans feel welcome. Even the local evening paper had pages printed in Spanish as both finalists came from Spain. Sevilla and Espanyol both scored twice in the match and the result was decided in a "penalty shoot-out" which Sevilla won 3-1 to take the cup.


The War Memorial to those in the Cameronian Regiment who gave their lives in the First World War was erected in the grounds of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in 1924. It is a gritty and realistic depiction of trench warfare, honouring the Cameronians who made the supreme sacrifice for their country. The sculptor was Robert Lindsey Clark, who won the DSO (Distinguished Service Order) as a Captain in the Great War.

If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page





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