Mountain hare survey

I joined the mountain hare survey team again today.  We walked up Lammer Law once more, stopping to enjoy the views to the north, across the Firth of Forth, over to Fife.

The landmark twin chimneys of Cockenzie power station were visible - as always.  But not for much longer.  They are due for demolition on 26 September.  The event seems to have taken on the morbid attraction of a public execution.  Tickets have been sold.  I think there has even been a raffle to win the right to press the 'exploding' button.  I am glad we will be away.  I am rather fond of the twins, and will miss them.  Certainly the landscape will not look the same without them!

The ling heather is not quite flowering, just a few plants, here and there.  The colour across the hillsides is coming from the bell heather.  

I had to look up this little cluster of delicate loveliness.  I have seen it before, lots of times, but never bothered to find out what it is.  I think it's reindeer lichen, Cladonia portentosa.  The end of each little spear does resemble reindeer antlers.

And I certainly had to look up this next specimen, because I had never seen it before.   After some enquiry, I now know that it is stag's horn clubmoss.  There wasn't much of it, but in the photo below it is lining a tiny, cosy little cubbyhole in the bank, which some small creature has been nestling into.  Maybe a leveret.

 The fresh green foliage across the hillsides is bilberry. 

We saw five hares today.  I saw four, the others glimpsed the fifth.  This is a poor photograph because I don't have a strong zoom lens on my point and squirt camera, but it's good enough to prove that we were looking for, and saw, the mountain hare!

As we came off the hills we saw a charm of goldfinches, swooping around over the bracken, and then large drops of rain began to fall, just as we reached the car.  Excellent timing!