Had a very enjoyable (and botanically interesting) hill walk near Loch Treig today. Moorland with Dwarf Cornel, Cloudberry, Bog Bilberry, Bilberry, Crowberry etc. But one look at the crags and you can see what's missing due to the grazing pressure...

Perhaps not in the most stunning state, but certainly one of the rarest plants today was this Starwort Mouse-ear (Cerastium cerastoides). Does it usually grow in mossy flushes like this?

Nice bit of Preissia quadrata from yesterday. It had a really surprising peppery taste!

Finally, summer has arrived in Caithness! Nice weather for a seabird survey. I'll just try to forget that two bull Orca swam past without me noticing as I was too busy counting birds...

Stunning afternoon for day 2 of 6 of my mountain leader training in the Cairngorms!

More stunning Cairngorms scenery today

Looking into the melting world of one of the few remaining snow patches in the Cairngorms...

Not a bad area to be camped in at 1150m yesterday

Camping high in the Cairngorms a few days ago gave me lots of time to explore habitats I'd usually only spend a few hours in, resulting in two new plants for me! Luzula arcuata (Curved Wood-rush) and Carex vaginata (Sheathed Sedge)

Hard not to admire the resilience of this Sitka Spruce, reaching over 4ft tall at 1080m near Carn Etchacan

Not a bad office for the last couple of days, getting a bit warm for me though...

Guess the tracks- big hand for scale

A beauty of a Field Gentian (Gentianella campestris) flowering in Caithness last week

The heavy nodding heads of Luzula spicata (Spiked Wood-rush), contrasting with the much more delicate and open heads of Luzula arcuata (Curved Wood-rush), from high in the Cairngorms last week. The former quite frequent across the Highlands, the latter slightly puzzlingly scarce

Came worryingly close to treading on this beauty yesterday morning, luckily I spotted her just in time!

Fantastic morning wandering about in the Caithness hills yesterday, such characterful peaks. Maiden Pap, Morven, Smean and Scaraben

Managed to find 4 of what I think are the UKs most northerly breeding Ptarmigan on Morven in caithness yesterday

I was having a very enjoyable hill run in the cairngorms on Friday. Luckily nothing went wrong at all...