A RATHER monotonous 'mewing' floated across the air from a nearby stand of trees in the Ochils near Menstrie.

Although it sounded a bit like a seagull, it was in fact a young buzzard, and there was no denying that the repetitiveness of the call bordered upon the irritating.

However, buzzards are most impressive birds, so I ventured down into the trees in the hope of catching a glimpse, but the sweeping branches were too thick for me to see the raptor, and anyhow, I didn't want to get too close in case I disturbed it.

Another bird piped-up from the bushes. It was a young robin, and like the buzzard, its call was persistent too.

This wee bundle of feathery-fluff really needs to keep piping away, so that the parents don't lose track of it in the lush summer foliage.

The risk, of course, is that a predator such as a fox hears the call too, and many fledglings come to grief at this time of year.

There were numerous butterflies about in the clearings, especially the dazzle of green-veined whites and an abundance of ringlets too, which are brown, dark butterflies with intricate little roundels on their wings.

A flash of orange zipped-up into the air and whizzed down the track before coming to rest on a thistle. It was a dark green fritillary – a misnomer if ever there was one, for the upper-wings of this fast-flying butterfly are patterned orange and black.

Nearby, ground-hugging blaeberries were bejewelled with dark, winey berries, and brambles were also developing well - a bounty that will be feasted upon by blackbirds and thrushes.

Foxes too are avid berry eaters and their scats turn purply-black from their indulgence.

This abundance of berries reminded me of a stout fence post in my home in Clackmannanshire which I pass most days when out walking. Atop this post grows a rowan sapling, somehow gaining tenure in the wood.

The rowan has been there for many years and its stunted growth is a sign of the dearth of nutrients, but somehow the tree manages to hang-on and survive.

Many moons ago, a mistle thrush or some other bird, had wiped its beak clean of seeds on this post after eating rowan berries, inadvertently sowing a grain of life in the process.

Sometimes I'm tempted to liberate this poor rowan from its precarious lodging and plant it elsewhere, but I suspect the roots are so entwined within the wood structure that I would end up killing it instead.