One cow went to mow

South Uist It's the noise made by a grazing cow, a pretty Belgian Blue cross that seems to have found a particularly succulent patch, that has brought me to a halt

At last it's a warm summer's day, but rather than the sun shining from an expanse of blue we have instead a muggy heat under a totally overcast sky. There is not the faintest suggestion of a breeze, just a slightly oppressive expectant stillness that even the fluttering of green-veined white butterflies between the pale-petalled cuckoo flowers does nothing to dispel.

The clouds hanging heavily above the land seem to be holding down all sound, so that even what is usually quiet becomes unnaturally loud in the hush. A fly, invisible somewhere in a forest of horsetails, can be heard coming closer and closer as it makes its way along the ditch beside the track.