A SWEET note, and then one more; a musical couplet, followed immediately by another.

Hesitant at first but gaining in confidence, the music from this song thrush floated across the crisp dawn air of the Law Hill community woodland above Dollar.

Signs of spring were all around: thrushes and blackbirds in full song, accompanied by the more genteel warbling of robins.

The excitement was palpable as the air rung to nature’s sweet music in anticipation of this season of renewal.

The Law Hill community woodland on the edge of the Ochils was planted in 1996 by Arndean estate and recently the trails here have been upgraded, making it a wonderful place for a wildlife wander.

There is always plenty to see, and only the week before, I had glimpsed a fox making its way across nearby sheep pasture.

On another memorable occasion a couple of years ago, I came to face-to-face with a long-eared owl sitting on a fence post.

We eyeballed each other for a while, before the elegant owl swept away on ghostly wings.

I made my way to the top of Law Hill and breathed in the wonderful spring landscape that unfolded before me, dominated by the brooding backdrop of King’s Seat Hill.

Then, a sound from high above, a hypnotic ‘mewing’ cascading down from the heavens.

It was a pair of buzzards, circling ever higher, and calling all the while before disappearing over the brow of Gloom Hill, their plaintive ‘mews’ fading away into the cool breeze.