There is new life everywhere. This wee calf getting a reassuring lick from its Mum is less than an hour old. There was a knock on the back door a couple of nights ago and it was the local farmer telling us of the new arrival. The cow had just given birth in one of the fields towards the loch. We hurried down to see her and after tramping across a couple of fields came upon the mother and her new offspring. Although the calf could just about stand up and walk it was still very wobbly and still didn't quite have full control of its legs.
All round the garden and along the lanes there are families of fledgelings still waiting to be fed by their parents. We followed the efforts of a pair of very hard working blue tits who reared a family in a bird box just by the sitting room window. Unfortunately we missed the day they actually left the nest and we hope they made their first flight safely. There are so many predators around that not all will survive. Driving home today we startled a buzzard who was feeding on a gatepost by the Guide Camp field. It had just caught a young rabbit. It struggled to fly away and skimmed low over the bushes. The rabbit must have been quite a weight and its legs were dangling as the buzzard flew away with it, no doubt taking it back to its own nest of hungry youngsters.
It was very peaceful down at the loch this evening. There were ducks and ducklings, geese and goslings and a grebe and - not sure what a young grebe is called so I think I'll call it a gribling. The raucous laughing call of the shelducks was carrying across the still water. Breaks in the clouds allowed light to stream on to the hills in the distance - idyllic.
