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!
The Comma butterfly is still a rarity in Scotland but thanks to being at the right place at the right time (and my eagle-eyed wife) this is my fourth sighting of a Comma butterfly this year. It was in the walled garden of Kinross House. It had already lost a part of its wing to a bite from a bird - not surprising, considering the large number of swallows flying overhead.
The Comma gets its name from the white mark on its underside. Maybe doesn't look too much like the punctuation mark to us, but it did to whoever originally named this butterfly!
Roses are very popular in Scotland and the rest of the UK not just because of the wide variety of colours, shape and perfume, but because they last for so long, producing a succession of blooms throughout the summer and into the late autumn. These delicate pink ones were growing in the garden of Kinross House.
In the 1950s and 1960s there was an explosion of building of high apartment blocks around Glasgow, as the city council attempted to do something about the slums and bomb-damaged inner-city areas. Of course, the "filing cabinets for people" created their own problems. Now, the housing authority is planning to demolish many of them - including these ones at Red Road, Balornock. In recent years they have been given a lick of exterior paint to try to brighten them up.
We don't often have insects three inches long with flashing wings flying at us in Scotland - but the Common Hawker Dragonfly is exceptional. They usually dart around quickly, feeding on midges and flies, so it has been difficult to get a photograph. But this one decided to rest on a Hydrangea flower in the garden in front of Culzean Castle in Ayrshire.
Dahlias come in all sizes and colours. This deep red variety was one of many growing in the walled garden at Culzean Castle Country Park. No wonder I've been to Culzean a dozen times (so far) this year. And as a member of the National Trust for Scotland, I get free entry to all their properties - and have saved the annual membership fee several times over on Culzean alone!
If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page
