"Scottish Snippets"

"Colour Supplement"

2 February 2008

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 glowing yellow strands of the Hamamelis (Witch Hazel) flowers, with their crinkly petals, shine out on the leafless branches from early winter to early spring. They survive even the harshest frosts and also have a slight fragrance.



A welcome sign of impending spring is the Snowdrop (Galanthus). It is one of the most widely grown bulbs in many countries, including Scotland. Although this photo is of a single flower, they spread well and often cover a wide area, particularly on grassy banks and in woodlands. This one was growing in Finlaystone Country Estate in Inverclyde. They have a "Snowdrop Walk" for visitors over the next few weeks as more and more come into bloom to form a white carpet


Last week's colour supplement had a photo of a recently planted Skimmia Japonica in flower (surrounded by hailstones). This week, we have here the berries of another variety of Skimmia, grown more for its bright red berries which last through the winter.


It's always a surprise to come across a winter-flowering Rhododendron - even when I've seen this one over many years. Rhododendrons flower more typically in the spring and early summer, when there is a profusion of flowering shrubs of all sorts of colours. The few winter-flowering varieties are not quite as showy, but at this time of year are still eye-catching.






The heavy rainfall in January has made rivers fast-flowing with the water threatening to burst the banks. Waterfalls are like this one in Finlaystone Country Estate are particularly impressive too.


These Mahonia leaves look more typical of autumn than winter - and just to add to the confusion of seasons, it has some flower spikes just about to come into bloom.

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





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