I brought 2 little cactii last week, i know one is a golden barrel and the other i think is an echinopsis. I havent watered them yet and have been sat in a south east facing window since i got them and one has developed a discoloured spot that is slighty soft, can any one advise. Ive really grown to quite like these two :)

Is the side with the soft spots facing the window?

It could possibly have been in the path of the sun for a while but the spots in the picture are predominantly shaded by the bigger part of plant on the left. (sorry i'm really new to plants, i have done many hours of reasearch and still feel like i know nothing :lol:) here's a picture of the whole plant

My thought was that as this plant was probably raised in a greenhouse or under shadecloth, your sunny window was too much too fast. Even though cactus are desert plants, living in areas with no shade at all, they will sunburn if introduced too fast to a sunnier location.

I read up on sunburn and was not to worried about it until I move them outside, now I look at my golden barrel he has turned slightly lighter green on one side (wasn't sure sunburn was possible in the UK ). I will keep them in my north west window, its bright all day with the sun coming round for an hour or 2 ( which i didn't think was enough for them). I've made them a little 2x2 green house for the summer, I will be cautions about where I put them then and introduce them slowly. Id rather learn this now then in full south facing summer sun. Thank you so much for your response.

You can acclimate them to the brighter spot and it would be better for them. Its a process that takes a couple weeks.