Call of the curlews

A glorious day, frosty first thing but by mid afternoon the temperature had risen to 20.5c and we had seen the first butterfly of the season - I think a small tortoiseshell.
The call of the Dava was too strong to resist and Cosmo and I enjoyed our first walk on the moor after an absence of 6 difficult months.

Conditions were perfect - fresh moorland air, warm sunshine near silence apart from the honking of geese - there was a pair of greylags on the lochan - startled grouse and up towards Easter Crannich the calls of curlews and oystercatcher.
A solitary frog was struggling across the track towards the reedy margin lochan - it sounded as if he was a latecomer to an amphibians' party.
It was wonderful to be back here on such a glorious day.