Balmaha, Stirlingshire

Remarkable what noses round your bag while you are not looking. I found this lizard when I got home.

Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park

I didn't build this wall but I am fascinated by it. I don't know who built it and I don't want to be rude about it since I have no idea what the builder planned. I don't even want to mention its whereabouts for the sake of the owner. But it reminds me of a wooden sculpture called Cracking Box by David Nash that I read about. David Nash is a highly skilled woodworker. Apparently, in making a small box of oak he deliberately put as many difficulties as possible in his way, wilfully breaking the rules of carpentry. The box holds together despite warping and cracking like mad. Among boxes, it is Les Dawson's piano playing. The wall, like Cracking Box, goes against the grain. It makes me think that such high disregard for the principals of building must be deliberate, an attempt to break the rules yet still create a structure. It too is warping and cracking and some people think it will collapse this year, but new stone is being added and I watch with interest.

Colonsay

A friend invited me to Colonsay and Oronsay as part of an RSPB work party. The RSPB farm a number of areas of the two islands in a wildlife friendly fashion and there are always lots of jobs need doing, including dykes to repair. Other workers sniggered and called it a busman's holiday as we set to work. The corner of one dyke had tumbled into a gully that pitched out over high cliffs leaving a gap that allowed sheep to cross from one estate to another. I quite like my feet on the ground but the climbers roped up and leapt straight in, perching on the edge while they passed the stone out in a chain. From time to time we caught glimpses of Peregrine falcons as they hunted kittewakes from the colony below us. Packing up towards the end of the day, a group of sheep appeared from over the rise to cross in their usual place. As they got to the corner they realised that the wall now barred their way and they turned back to clamber about fearlessly on the cliffs instead.

Balmaha

First tick of the year last week. The ground has been frozen for weeks yet this blighter got me.