Tree with eyes

That's what we googled, and it came up with quaking aspen, a native of North America. This was beside the first pond above Haystoun House in Glen Sax, just outside Peebles in the Borders. There were some vivid rhododendrons by the pond which looked positively fluorescent, also a pair of swans who didn't have cygnets or seem to be nesting. 

This was part of an excellent expedition where T and I walked more or less to the top of the glen and saw plenty of lambs which weren't yet at the gambolling stage but some of them seemed to be gearing up to king of the castle. There were a lot of flowers and other things of interest. I've got an extra of a blackface lamb with its cute black knees standing its ground beside its mum. We heard a cuckoo at several points but didn't know whether this was a single cuckoo following us, or whether there were several. I hadn't heard a cuckoo in years. The glen was looking lovely and a hundred miles away from Edinburgh, or Peebles, come to that, as it always does. We met a few people at the beginning of the walk, but then only a couple or so later on. The weather was fine, better than forecast with only a few drops of rain, although there was a chilly wind, but at least it was at our backs on the return route.