Country diary: pub quiz and osprey in one fell swoop

Findhorn, Moray: Each evening we sit by the harbour wall to watch them fishing, sometimes three at a timeFindhorn village stands on a hook of land between a wide shallow estuary and the long expanse of Burghead Bay. The cottages of fishermen who worked in the herring trade run at 90 degrees to the harbour, reached by what are known as stryplies. Along these grassy vennels, gardens have been made. Even the tiniest strips between fence and lane grow aquilegias and lavender, meadow annuals, sedums, herbs and seaside plants such as thrift and rosemary. To the south is the eco-village of the Findhorn Foundation.Burghead beach, 11 miles long, is scattered with tank traps from the second world war, their concrete scarred and encrusted with limpets and seaweeds. Common terns, slender and graceful, rest on a half-submerged pillbox. Behind the bay is a hinterland of old dunes that are gradually being vegetated. Among knolls of Scots pines and bell heather, sandy glades hold resinous and heady scents. Butterflies abound - small heath, meadow brown, ringlet, common blue, speckled wood - and in the dark conifer branches are yellowhammers and siskins. Sand martins swoop in from their nests in the cliffs facing the beach, and orchids - pale and ethereal creeping ladies-tresses - emerge through the litter of pine needles. Continue reading...