Sounds summer of

The tantalising call of a young buzzard distracted Keith from the spectacular panorama of Pitmedden Forest

As panoramas go, this was as good as any I’ve encountered, where from my vantage point in Pitmedden Forest high above Newburgh, I could see Mugdrum Island in the Tay below and a vista beyond stretching all the way along the firth to Dundee.

But despite the wonderful view, it was a rather monotonous “mewing” that was grabbing my attention. Although it sounded a bit like a seagull, it was in fact a young buzzard, and there was no denying that the repetitiveness of the call bordered upon the irritating.

However, buzzards are most impressive birds, so I ventured down into a stand of pines in the hope of catching a glimpse, but the sweeping needle-clad branches were too thick for me to see the raptor, and anyhow, I didn’t want to get too close in case I disturbed it.

Later, as I made my way back towards Abernethy Glen, another bird piped up from the bushes. It was a young robin, and like the buzzard, its call was persistent too. This wee bundle of feathery-fluff really needs to keep piping away, so that the parents don’t lose track of it in the lush summer foliage. The risk, of course, is that a predator such as a fox also hears the call, and many fledglings come to grief at this time of year.

There were numerous butterflies about in the clearings, especially the dazzle of green-veined whites and an abundance of ringlets too, which are brown, dark butterflies with intricate little roundels on their wings. A flash of orange zipped up into the air and whizzed down the track before coming to rest on a thistle. It was a dark green fritillary – a misnomer if ever there was one, for the upper-wings of this fastflying butterfly are patterned orange and black.

By the trackside, ground-hugging blaeberries were bejewelled with dark, winey berries, but the brambles are looking a bit on the small side this year, perhaps because of the long dry spell. But at least there are plenty of them and this bounty will be feasted upon by blackbirds and thrushes. Foxes too are avid berry eaters and their scats turn purply-black from their indulgence.

This abundance of berries reminded me of a stout fence post in my home patch of Strathdevon which I pass most days when out walking. Atop this post grows a rowan sapling, somehow gaining tenure in the wood. The rowan has been there for many years and its stunted growth is a sign of the dearth of nutrients, but somehow the tree manages to hang on and survive.

Many moons ago, a mistle thrush or some other bird, had wiped its beak clean of seeds on this post after eating rowan berries, inadvertently sowing a grain of life in the process.

Sometimes I’m tempted to liberate this poor rowan from its precarious lodging and plant it elsewhere, but I suspect the roots are so entwined within the wood structure that I would end up killing it instead. Buzzards are probably the commonest bird of prey in Courier Country and numbers have increased over the last few decades. They feed on a wide variety of prey, including voles and young rabbits.

The number of buzzards has increased in Courier Country over the decades.