East Asia comes to Oban

Same old, same old! A dull morning with drizzle. I'd decided last night to go out for a litter pick this morning, but wasn't keen to get soaked too! Fortunately it stopped before too long so I went out, calling in at McCaig's Tower as a first stop and chatting to a couple about rubbish being seemingly invisible to many people. 

I did my usual circuit and added on an extra piece as yesterday we'd noticed that Craigard Road, now a footpath only, was rather a mess. As I worked my way up I met a group of visitors coming down. They appeared to be East Asian, Korean maybe, so thinking it would be good to hear the reaction of foreign visitors to the rubbish problem I asked one of them if they were on holiday, to which he replied in the affirmative. I asked him where they were from and he said 'Falkirk'! Never assume anything!

Shortly afterwards I met a lady coming down and we stopped for a chat. She was from Northern Ireland, living in Glasgow,  and working in a hostel here until the end of the season. We had a chat about all sorts of environmental and Oban things which lasted for at least half an hour! She called 'God Bless' as she continued on her way!

By the time I got home the sun was quite hot and so I enjoyed a late lunch on the deck with the cats before doing a bit of plant pottering! Not having caught a Blip while I was out I stood this fern in the sun before it disappeared behind the trees, the sun that is, not the fern! This is Dryopteris erythrosora, native to east Asia (and possibly Falkirk!), which has the most wonderfully copper-coloured new fronds.