Glenn got up early to do some birdwatching at 6.30am. I went for a walk around the loch at 7.30am. It was cool but sunny. There’s lots of algae on the loch but it doesn’t bother the wildlife.

We arrived back at the van at the same time at 8.30am. 

We had a quick breakfast before being picked up by mum to go birdwatching at Kinnordy loch outside Kirriemuir. There are 3 bird hides there – and we had them all to ourselves . It was warming up to a temperature around 22 – very pleasant for Scotland.

We saw many good birds including 2 marsh harriers, osprey, buzzard, reed buntings, bluetits and swans with cygnets.

A mushroom expert and artist must live near here and has published a book.

We also saw tiny black frogs hopping around all over the path. 

There are beavers here but we didn’t see any evidence of them. 

After spending time in all the bird hides we were hungry. So we drove back to Forfar bakers Maclaren’s that have the best Forfar bridies-  famous crescent shaped mince pies with short crust pastry.

We got the bridies and special treats at this time of year – strawberry tarts!

Both were delicious and scoffed within minutes. 

In the afternoon we went to watch mum play bowls in a match she had. We had a nice time sitting in the sun watching the action. 

Unfortunately she and her partner didn’t win but it was an enjoyable match with good bowling. 

We then went back to mums to sit in the sun with gin and tonics. She then made us a very nice dinner before we watched the England vs Argentina World Cup semifinal. Unfortunately Argentina played better 2 won 2-1. This will not be popular down south in England!

We walked back to the van at 10pm still in daylight seeing a strange haar (sea fog) rolling in making it very chilly.