Rain and sunsets....

Yes finally we have had some rain showers.  Still not a huge amount but it's brightening up the garden and hopefully helping the crops and grass grown for feed by farmers for the livestock. Above you can see the Hoy hills under the duvet of cloud.

I love wandering around the garden after a rain shower.  The smell of fresh rain after a long dry spell is wonderful, and the droplets on the flowers are so beautiful.

A rose wearing her jewels....

Grasses sparkling....

Knautia wearing pom poms.....

The verbascum has done particularly well this year and looks lovely covered in rain droplets....

Asters......

And I found a resurgent aquilegia (columbine) which was decimated in the gale in June. Though wisely it is staying close to the ground!

And the droplets accentuate the spider webs....

This sea holly is cloaked in a spider's web AND rain droplets!! Loadsa bling!

Later in the evening the moths were out.  Not sure what this one is, but under the wings are a delicate shade of orange.  Beautiful!

I bought a garden ornament recently made by a local craftsman.  It will move about the garden depending on my mood and where I think it looks best. (Ladies' mantle doing well this season!  This is a new part of a border so will take time to develop)

Erm, Button was unimpressed with the "art".......

Then I think Button decided to do a bit of "nesting"...... Needless to say she didn't do anything useful like lay an egg!

One of the hens rootling about.  Sadly this wee hen died a week ago.  Always sad to lose one of my girlies. 

We'd been down to the beach earlier and added to the collection of groatie buckies (well I did, Button gets bored to quickly to find them).  They are added to the small pile, next to the heart shaped stone.

The sun came out  in the evening so off we went to look at the sunset.  I love the colour the sandstone turns as the sun lights it up.

From down by the old lighthouse pier - you can see the sun is tracking back now the longest day is by.  In the few days since I took these pictures (maybe two weeks ago actually) it has moved a fair bit, but I've missed the sunsets so no pix!

A bit later..... by the sandy beach

And then I turned around and there was THIS! The end of the rainbow *exploding*!  I've never seen a phenomenon like this before!

You can see the rainbow more clearly in this one.....

And then walking home....

And here is a short video by the shore watching the sunset - turn up the sound as it's more for those effects..... oystercatchers, curlew, gulls and the waves....

PS - August is a busy time so I may not be posting so much.  Will do some retrospective posts when things slow down!