A report in this paper of the sighting of a hoopoe at the Scottish Wildlife Trust visitor centre at Montrose Basin reminded me about a possible sighting of one of these exotic birds on Piperton croft, outside Brechin, in 2005. I haunted the croft for five days hoping to see it but was disappointed.
Several weekends ago we – the Doyenne and I, that is, and son Robert and his family – were frustrated by the weather from meeting for a family lunch at the Finzean Farmshop. The Lecht was closed to the north and Cairn o’ Mount closed to the south with our intended destination marooned in the middle.
Tomorrow marks the one hundredth anniversary of the end of World War One. The Doyenne and I shall attend our church Armistice service to commemorate the stark events of the Great War – a hideous euphemism for those four years of conflict and their bitter harvest of senseless death.
On Monday morning I drove up Glenesk hoping to get the best of a sun which was competing with some wintery-looking clouds. I was just too late to get a cup of coffee and a scone at The Retreat Museum for it had closed for the winter the previous evening