Kilpatrick Hills, West Dunbartonshire

I started my walk just below Overton House and climbed the Lang Craigs, walked over the top of Rigangower, via Glenarbuck to Haw Craig valley and then Duntocher.

Overton Glen was full of woodland flowers including Water Avens (Geum rivale), Sanicle (Sanicula europaea) and Woodruff (Galium odoratum).

I saw a pair of Wheaters feeding a juvenile on the rough grassland below the Lang Craigs. Amongst the loose scree at the base of the Lang Craigs I heard a Stonechat: there seem to be fewer around this year, normally they outnumber the Whinchats.

As I struggled up the Lang Craigs cliffside, a noisy family group of Ravens flew overhead.

Some bluebells are still flowering, unusually late, at the top of the Lang Craigs.

Dung Roundhead (Stropharia semiglobata), on grassland East of Lang Craigs 

Brooklime grows in the burn that runs alongside Rigangower quarry (South East of Greenland Reservoir number 3). 

Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa)

For whatever reason, Ruby Tiger moths become brighter red in colour as you travel further south, the most ruby-red specimens are found in England. In much of Scotland we have a dark brown version (with just a hint of red): the subspecies borealis. The specimen photographed above is not a 'borealis' but it is still a very dull red.

This is the copper colour-morph of the click beetle Ctenicera cuprea:

click beetle (Ctenicera cuprea) male

At the Triangle Reservoir (between Auchentorlie Glen and Haw Craig) I added a new bird species to my local list: Sand Martins! I sat and watched them skim the water: they were too fast and unpredictable to capture on camera.

Sand Martins (Riparia riparia) normally nest on sandy banks of slow-flowing rivers, I think the birds I saw are probably nesting at Rigangower quarry.

The first of the Common Blue Damselflies (Enallagma cyathigerum) have emerged.

Wild Thyme (Thymus praecox brittanicus)

Wild Thyme (Thymus praecox brittanicus)

Drinker moth (Euthrix potatoria) cocoon

This enormous woolly cocoon belongs to the Drinker moth, it was about 4cm in length and was attached to a reed in a marshy field.

There are still a few Coenagrion puella Damselflies remaining at Little Round Top.