Escape?

You may think this little whatever has escaped from its nest and is flying to freedom in the Big Wide World.

The truth is rather more mundane. While awaiting delivery of my lunch at the Livingston Inn I noticed the cobwebs in the hole in the centre of the table, where a parasol might be fixed. There, trapped in the filament was a single seed from the overhanging silver birch tree.

I am very familiar with these on a dinner table; although there are two large specimens to the rear of my garden, they cause few such problems as the prevailing wind carries their seeds away but, at my childhood home, two mature trees next door seemed to target our house with every seed they produced. They turned up everywhere - a cup of tea was not safe to drink unless examined beforehand and the offender removed. I think this little seed got off lightly.

Thanks to dbifulco for hosting Tiny Tuesday.

Incidentally, we followed lunch with a nice walk by the River Almond, eastwards along the Almond Path south of the river, crossing to the north bank and following the Almond Park grassy clearings then cutting back to the village after crossing the Folly Burn. Lovely area, must go again.