The early part of my week was spent in Kirkcudbright, where I enjoyed an early run down St Mary’s Isle this time, thankfully, without falling flat on my face!  Along the marshy ground by the river there is lots of Water-dropwort about to burst into flower and Sea thrift on the rocks. In the woods, last month’s Bluebells are over now, as is the Wild garlic, though a strong garlicky scent still fills the air. The woods are full of more invasive Rhododenron ponticum, with its grayanotoxin-rich nectar, than is ideal but also lots of Cow Parlsey and Red Campion, which do provide vital food and habitat for insects at this time of year.  Sadly, the beautifully-fragrant Rhodendron luteum in my parent’s garden is also a source of toxic nectar, though this species is not as invasive as its larger cousin so is still often planted in gardens.  

We spent Tuesday morning in Threave gardens again, where it was lovely to see the change in only a month; there are lots of Rhododendrons and Azaleas in flowering now, alongside statuesque Alliums and Mecanopsis poppies.  The small glasshouse is packed with interesting-coloured Cape primroses and other tropical delights.

There has been lots of birdsong and wildlife to enjoy this week, from a Black Cap perched on the Rhododendrons on St Mary’s Isle, to Swallows, Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Yellow Hammers and Larks on my regular run up to Quarrington Hill.   Even closer to home, and a great nature boost on a wet day, is the noisy Blackbird family nesting in the apple tree. When I ran out of bird seed for the feeder this week, I resorted to throwing a handful of sunflower seeds on the patio and soon had the mother bird feeding them to her young, just outside the French windows. Walking up and down Cardiac Hill on the science site, the Lesser-spotted Woodpecker young were making a real racket, unhappy with the rate at which their parents were able to supply them with food – rather like a hungry Casper!  I was delighted to see a tiny Weasel, with a mouse or vole in its mouth, run across the road in front of me on the way home from my parents.

Rosie requested a ‘visit to a quarry’ so on Saturday we made our first trip of the year to Thrislington NNR on a warm, sunny morning which felt like the start of summer.  The Cowslips, Bluebells and Early-purple Orchids are nearly over for the year but it was lovely to see the first Common-spotted orchids appearing, alongside Rock-roses, Flax and blue and purple forms of Milkwort. The Yellow-rattle is doing a good job of keeping rank grasses at bay.

In the garden, a beautiful purple Iris has joined the mass of colour around the pond and the fragrant Dame’s Violet which appeared unsolicited last year has reappeared.  The Bird’s-foot Trefoil is going from strength to strength in the front and I was delighted to find some Quaking grass has joined it.  I definitely didn’t plant that but it’s one of my favourites.

The week’s cultural highlight was undoubtedly joining a crowd of some 40 000 people to see Bruce Springsteen at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, despite the rain!  ‘Waiting for a Sunny Day’ was the perfect start to the set!

Our culinary highlight piggybacked on the gig, in the form of a long and leisurely ‘Dunch’ (halfway between lunch and dinner) at the wonderful Shandiz restaurant on Vine Street, whilst avoiding the rain.  Suffice it to say that their lamb Ghormeh sabzi is enough to break my 99 % vegetarian diet! To be honest, I’d happily eat the bean and herb stew without the meat but I know a lot of the flavour comes from the stock so I’d be kidding myself if I made a big deal of not eating it.

This week I’ve listened to the audio book of The Colony, by Audrey Magee, driving to and from Kirkcudbright. It was a slightly accidental download from Borrowbox, but turned out to be a beautifully-written description of life on a small, isolated island off the west coast of Ireland and the havoc wreaked when an artist and a linguist, summer visitors, upset the equilibrium with their own expectations of island life.