And there's Gorse, of course!

Last weekend I had the opportunity to get up-close and personal with a few gorse bushes.

We were on a rock-art hunt... the gorse is good for protecting the panels from damage by livestock, but at the same time the roots can crack the stone and break up the surface.

Rock art in northern Britain is more often that not found at ground-level, on little hillocks raised above the field level. We knew it was in there somewhere - but only had a 6-place grid ref and the description "under a gorse bush" to help us!!



We didn't find it. There was three of us bent over hunting inside these huge bushes, getting scratched and dusty and eventually giving up after about an hour's searching. It was peaceful on that hillside, with only the occasional coo and the faint scent of coconut in the air.
After a while we found another panel we weren't looking for instead, which was nice!!



Gorse is in flower at the moment; brash and bright and prickly. En-masse they can be a bit scary; sometimes for good reason. It wasn't until two days later I found a tick on B's neck! (We removed it by dowsing with vodka and poking with a hot skewer!)

FOOT NOTE - This post gets more hits than any other on my blog - what were you searching for? Please tell me... I'm fascinated!!!! Thanks PFH

OK as a result of the answer to my above question is actually directing people to another site, I want to add this photo of a tick I took myself, in Lewis on the Western Isles of Scotland, in June 2007. Enjoy!