Taexalia

wild.life

Glimpsing Spring

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I've covered a fare bit of ground over the past week really. My folks took us over to Lomond Shores which is basically a shopping centre at one end of Loch Lomond. It wasn't as awful as it might sound, but since I'm not a stuff buying addict I was more interested in the scenery. I'm also still trying to forget the cloying stench of perfume that permeated the air - I hate perfume and can't see the attraction of a) perfume shops and b) walking around with a chemical cloud for an aura.

We decided to get with the fishies in the Aquarium and despite the fact it's a Merlin Entertainments establishment (they are on the same list as perfume for me), it was quite good.

I like Pike, I like the way they hang in the water, still, lurking. I don't think anything lurks like a pike lurks. I have no photos because I was feeling jaggy and the people banging on the glass and using flash photography were pissing me off big time with their ignorance. I hope the Pike get their own back in the next life...

I also liked the seahorses, and the aquarium is part of a breeding program - there were tanks that had these specks of dust floating in them - when you looked more closely they were baby seahorses. Some were millimetres short and some a centimetre long. Amazing. What I like about seahorses is that the male carries the babies - I think that's an idea we might need to develop

Can you imagine? We'd have proper maternity care, lengthy maternity leave, huge cash payouts and as much coal as we can eat if the men were doing the bump thing...

Afterwards we went for a meander since Dad decided we were too early to go and eat. So we drove through some affa bonnie scenery and then we drove past the ugliness that is Faslane Nuclear Base. It's dismal and it just doesn't belong on that beautiful loch. The Peace Camp looked colourful and *present* and a sharp contrast to the rolls and rolls and rolls of razor wire at the other side of the road. I don't get it. They sell us this idea that Faslane is there to protect us, but the sense of disconnection from the populace that razor wire creates doesn't fit with that fantasy. Keep the damned things at Westminster and leave the lochs for a better use.

Aye but soon the scenery returned to normal and we were back to choosing which wee cottage would suit us best. "But there disnae seem to be a road tae that een" "Aye, xackly!"...

Eventually Dad brought us back to the place he had in mind for a meal ~ The Drover's Inn. This is the oldest inn in Scotland and you can practically hear 300 years of stories breathing from the walls. I can highly recommend the Haggis and they pour a fine pint tae

On Sunday we took a trip to North Berwick and got ourselves onto the 12:30 sailing of the Sula II. I've been wanting to take Mum out on her since our trip last year, and Mum was duly impressed. The Firth was a wee bit agitated with some great rolling waves, but the boat is well able to cope.

The Gannets were out and about collecting nesting materials and it's just something else to meet them up close in their world. We also saw shags, cormorants, guillemots, kittiwakes, shell ducks, eider ducks, puffins and grey seals.

I joined my folks for the trip north as a last minute decision and spent the bank holiday visiting with my new nephew. We took a walk in the woods behind my sister's house and enjoyed the spring growth - especially the bracken breaking out of the soil...

I caught the megabus home the following day and as we are having a run of wonderful weather, @ made a picnic tea and we dined al fresco on the edge of Dunsapie Loch. Tons of action on the loch with the mallards getting all frisky, a couple of crows courting on the grass behind us and a mother magpie with her youngster flitting about.

@ spotted a toad bobbing its head out of the water and we felt for its safety as a heron flew in to hunt for dinner. We spotted a tadpole in one of the wee pools too

We walked back down the hill in the woods and I got busy with my camera...