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 tall white Anemone Japonica is a late-flowering variety of anemone and will be in bloom for many weeks. This picture (like all the others below) was taken at Drummond Castle Gardens in Perthshire.
"Rosa Rugosa" (also known as Japanese Rose or Ramanas Rose) is a species of rose native to eastern Asia. It is grown not just for its striking red, pink and white flowers, but for the large, decorative hips or seed pods which are 2-3 centimetres (around an inch) in diameter.
Over the summer, there has been a marked absence of butterflies. So it was great to find large numbers of them feeding voraciously on the Sedum "Autumn Joy" in the gardens of Drummond Castle. Although there was a certain amount of wing flicking to scare off bees and wasps, this Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell seemed to tolerate one another as they enjoyed the nectar and the warmth of the sun. Sadly, none of the Painted Ladies will survive a Scottish winter but the Small Tortoiseshell may manage to hibernate in sheds or barns.
This Dunnock is normally a ground feeder but the seeds of the tall Pampas Grass proved to be a great attraction.
Although the picture above is technically better than this one, I couldn't resist including this incongruous picture of another Dunnock, with the seeds from the Pampas Grass coming out of its beak. It almost looks guilty at being "caught in the act"!
The autumn colours were very much in evidence this week at Drummond Castle with this Acer making a particularly striking impact. But there were many other ornamental trees in the formal garden lending splashes of bright colour.
The sun was getting lower in the sky when this photo of another ornamental tree in Drummond Castle was taken. Even so, it shone like a beacon across the garden.
If you want to look back at earlier editions of this Colour Supplement, there is an Index Page
