I woke up in the Wee Bunkhouse, my legs feeling the workout from the previous day's eleven hour hillwalk (See 'Mountain Wildlife'). It was birthday, and I was looking forward to continuing our April wildlife adventure. We ambled along the shore of Loch Duich in light rain, checking out seaweeds, enjoying the common sandpipers and other birds and keeping a watchful eye out for otters.
We found a stunning patch of scurvygrass. As it's name suggests it was once used by mariners in need of a vitamin C boost. I love its succulent salt and horseradish flavour. Further round a gaggle of wary greylags eyed us - elegant and under-rated birds I reckon.
Scurvy grass - once used by mariners to supplement weevily biscuits.
Later we made our way east to Chanonry Point on the Moray Firth. As part of my birthday wildlife-fest, I wanted to watch a local wildlife gem: the world's most northerly population of bottlenose dolphins.
A line of people stood on the beach expectantly. Strangers conversed and adults were just as excited as the kids. Seeing the dolphins surface right near to the shore is a real treat. And more than that, as we braced ourselves against a chilly north-easterly breeze, it struck me that most of us were here for the same reason: celebrating life. We were revelling in the spectacle of seeing non-human life in action. Watching for the sheer joy of it. Erich Fromm and later E.O. Wilson wrote about 'biophilia' - an innate urge to affiliate with other forms of life.
If that wasn't biophilia, I don't know what is!
Biophiles watching dolphins