Cairngorms Life

It is unbelievable that this mild spell can continue, we have not had rain for well over a week and the temperature has stayed above freezing overnight for ages. Looking back on previous years of writing this blog I have been out clearing snow on many occasions during this period. Having said that I will have most probably jinx’s it by saying this and the weather will change for the worse.

9th.

Went down to Loch Dunmore today just to see what other trees the Beaver has cut down and it has been very busy, with at least twenty trees down, all Willow.

Although no sign of the migratory birds I said about in the last blog, at least the Goldfinches are enjoying them. (I must add that all bird shots on this particular blog are shut through double glazing so may appear a bit soft)

10th.

Being the closest Sunday to the first World War (which ended on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at eleven o’clock ), here in Britain we remember all those that died in conflicts and it is known as Remembrance Sunday. Our village is very special in as much as Blair Castle is the only place in the country to (by royal ascent) be allowed to have a private army, granted by Queen Victoria. So on this special day they are the main focus for the remembrance service. below are some shots I took on that day.

The army mustering outside the castle gates.

Part of the army is the band, here we have the Drum Major and the Head Piper discussing the parade outside the village hall.

The pipe band leading the soldiers towards the War Memorial.

The soldiers in their tartan uniform.

The Granite stone is our War Memorial. The lady by the band gives a lament on the bagpipes later on.

We have a small church service followed by a two minute silence for all to reflect and remember, followed by the laying of the Poppy wreaths. Poppies are a sign of hope for the future as the following year after fighting stopped, the Flanders (France) fields were many soldiers died on both sides, was full of Poppies.

The wreaths are from various organisations, some military others from the council and even local youth organisations. The small crosses are personal family remembrance’s.

12th.

Well the weather has turned a bit colder and in came the European birds migrated over here for the winter. We had a huge number of them flock in, including Starlings, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, a few Fieldfare but mainly Redwings, literally hundreds of them. I said in my last blog that the Rowan berries would be a huge attraction and they sure were, they just eat them hole as the first and last shot shows and in the last shot you can see why they are called “Redwings”.

14th.

Just to prove that we had a real attack on the berries, I have included the shot from the last blog of the tree full of berries and have followed it up with todays shot of that same tree, totally bare of any berries. I can assure you there are none on the ground either as the smaller finches picked up what was dropped.

I see no berries?

P.S.I did jinx the weather, the last two nights have gone below zero C.

We were forecast snow on the hills and we thought just an icing sugar dusting would greet us on the tops of the hills, well it was on the hill tops but a bit more and a bit lower than we thought.

12th.

This was before nightfall .

13th.

Sunrise the next day giving it that pink hue.

One of my southern pals suggested I get some ski’s and climb the Munros for the first run of the winter. One I do not have ski’s and secondly at my age I do not climb Munros.

When you get a wood full of Silver Birch they look wonderful in Autumn.

As do the grasses.

Good job these sheep have regrown their Winter coats.

16th.

No photos but just to say what I meant by the title of this blog, three days after taking this the above shots and I woke up to a temperature outside of eleven degrees C compared with morning temperatures in the minus degrees in the above ones.

17th.

On drawing the curtains back this morning we had a about twenty feet visibility, then the sun rose and slowly burnt the fog off. as it crept up the hill opposite us it gave this magical view of the Autumnal colours, so of course, out came the camera.

Clear skies for once when a Super Moon is visible. This one is a Hunters Moon.

18th.

So mild again today had a walk around the loch where Enchanted Forest is, but in daylight to catch the true Autumn colours.

With roughly three thousand people visitiing the loch every evening until ten thirty at night with all the lights and sound, the night time security have been watching the Beavers at work in the time that Enchanted Forest is closed. As you can see by this freshly gnawed down tree they are still very active.

The frogs from my previous blog where they were illuminated, this is them in reality during the day.

27th.

Picked up a freshly road killed Pheasant yesterday and after I had removed it’s breast for my dinner last night ( marinated in pomegranate juice and port ) , I strategically placed the carcass in the field so that I could photograph what came to feed on it. Here are the results, taken through the dining room double glazing so not great, sharp shots.

A Common Buzzard taking the main share, while a very brave Magpie tries it’s luck to grab a morsel.

As soon as the Buzzard had had it’s fill a second (not so brave Magpie) joined it’s mate to eat up the scraps. Look how clean the Buzzard has eaten the legs.

30th.

Sad day today that is the end of my Trout fishing season and the last time I will game fish until next March, most clubs allow fishing for Rainbows right through the year as they are triploids and cannot breed, but our club closes the season tomorrow so time to clean my gear and put it away for a while. Been a good season though with plenty of Trout in the freezer ready to smoke for Christmas presents.

The wife saw these by the roadside so I stopped and photographed them, not sure what they are. wouldn’t it be a great idea to set up a camera and see what is eating them, may try it one day, I expect it will be something boring like a slug.

Most of the leaves have gone off the Rowans now, so what a beacon of brightness these look to attract the Redwings and Fieldfare when they come over from continental Europe.

The best season in a year to me is Autumn and my wife says that this will be the same old photos, but I am sorry I just love this time of the year. One thing in my favour is (I hope) every year I have a better idea of how to take a better shot and old followers hopefully will see that improvement. So here we go with the same old Autumn beauty that is this wonderful part of the world.

9th.

All the above taken from within the garden.

10th.

Both taken from The Garry River bridge, the second shows just a bit more of the beautiful woodland, I hate the zip wire ruining the shot, but it is there so it stays in the shots.

The view looking south on the bridge.

Above the bridge looking down on the A9 road.

I love this single track road especially in the winter, with a heavy frost on the bare trees is beautiful.

You have all seen this Munro from up the road from our house, this is just a couple of miles south of that view.

That road leads back down to the River Garry and I was hoping to photograph Salmon leaping up these falls. Unfortunately I saw none but at Soldier Leap half a mile south of this spot a friend watched seven trying to get over those falls. But the rock formation on this part of the river is fascinating to look at.

Though I record the entertainment of the Enchanted Forest, some of my followers are new this year so I will start off with an explanation of what it is. This is an annual event that occurs in the fishing club water at Dunmore Loch that place with the boathouse that I fish in (note I didn’t say where I catch fish)it is a light show that has water displays and lighting with in the surrounding woods. I shall try and describe each of the shots. The theme this year was Symphony of Nature. It goes on for a month every night from six o’clock until ten and over that month ninety thousand people attend.

These large air filled balls are floating on the loch water and various colours are are beamed onto them allowing some great reflective shots when the water is as calm as it was on this night.

One section of the loch has a bridge going over it and this year it has been covered by four inch diameter silver discs with a glitter ball on the inside of the roof covered bridge. From the outside of this shot the colour comes from the people crossing clothes.

Looking at the discs from the inside.

On the water is a large pump that projects a semi circle water spray , through this is a film projected from the bank giving a four minute movie to the spectators on a platform on the opposite side to the camera. These were dandelion seed heads that came up from water level to fly into the air.

Believe it or not this is the result of the detail that can be seen through the spray.

Flowers, Butterfly and Fern.

Just a different image.

An overall view of the lighting on the far bank.

Ditto.

In another area Frogs on lily pads that were croaking.

A tublar bells type set up that you walk through and the children (plus some adults) can swing them about.

The same as above but showing the reflection from the opposite side of the water.

Just a reflection of a water spurt on the water.

Lots of stories related to nature, this fairy told a nature story and was surrounded by seed heads, small and large.

One of the large ones.

These were suspended swings that children and aduts could sit in and were very popular.

Three firepits around the route all made especially for the show with the metal globe of the woods.

With carefully placed spotlights the natural features of the woods come alive at night.

Well that heat wave I promised on the last blog came for the first four days of this new blog, it also was the only four consecutive days that we had decent “hot” weather ALL summer. Three days of 24C (That is hot for us) plus a day at 22C.

19th.

Went on a day out to a small town of Dollar just over our county border in Clackmannanshire, to visit a Japanese garden, though way out of the Cairngorms I think it is well worth showing you some of my images. You have to book to go at a specific time and once the tickets are sold out nobody else can go, so it never gets to crowded.

No fish in the water, which in my opinion is an essential item in a Japanese garden, but I did spot a white Leech swimming around.

19th

Looks like our week of summer weather is over as we went down to minus two C last night as witnessed on my car when I went out at nine thirty this morning, yes that is ice.

21st.

Our neighbour looked in his hedge and found this dead Goldcrest, the U.Ks smallest bird along with the Firecrest , it had hit the house window and just dropped into the hedge. Such a shame for such a beautiful, delicate, colourful bird. The crest is a striking gold colour (hence it’s name) and the Firecrest has a bright red strip behind the gold. We have seen them in the garden but so small and fast I have never been able to photograph one before. Put the fifty pence next to it for comparison.

25th

Looks like the trees are changing slowly as the first signs of colour are appearing opposite us.

28th.

This time of the year the late Heathers come into their own, this is just a few of those that thrive in the garden, some are just going over while others are at their best.

They certainly cheer you up on a Northerly wind, cold day.

Weather forecasts are stating that we could be in for a heat wave this month, well that would be good to see as we have not had much of a summer. Though to be honest up here in the wilds of the Cairngorms, this month has not started off that good, cold, wet and fairly dull and with nights drawing in it is now dark my nine at night. But if you live this far North you cannot expect tropical conditions , so we just get on with life.

1st

After a cold night we did get a good sunrise then the day went downhill after that. A sure sign of Autumn weather is mist coming up off the rivers , first shot shows the route of the River Garry in the distance and the second of the Tilt which joins the Garry in the village.

8th.

Well we had the heat wave three whole days when we have had twenty four degrees C and that is our summer, tomorrow rain followed by strong winds for the following two days. So made the most of today and went on a circular drive of about fifty miles of our scenery, below is a few shots from it. But as most of it was single track roads , not much chance of stopping for landscape shots.

First stop Loch Tummel about a mile on from Queens View, said to be where Queen Victoria stopped and admired the view. The cone shaped mountain in the middle is Schiehallion of which this series of shots are based around, a place of interest that I will tell you about later.

This little Loch is my favourite Brown Trout water I can fish, it is called Loch Kinardochy and sitting in a boat this time of the year at one with nature and (hopefully) catching these beautiful fish is wonderful. Often with the sound of bellowing Red Deer stags in the background during the mating rut. Again Schiehallion in the background.

From the car park where the adventurist start their walk up Schiehalion the top being one thousand and eighty three metres above sea level, therefore a Munro.

Looking into the sun again at our mountain.

Now I will tell you about the mountain, the English translation is “The fairy Hill of Caledonia”.

The famous thing about this mountain is that in seventeen seventy four the Astronomer Royal Neville Maskelyne decided he wanted to work out the mass of the Earth and chose Schieallion as it was cone shaped to work it out using it for his measurements. The calculations were based on the fact that the mountains own mass caused a pendulum to swing away from the vertical? No I don’t understand it either, but that is what he did.

12th.

Woke up to a really cold morning (so much for the heatwave) when I looked at the thermometer I was shocked, the coldest morning we have experienced for this early in the month, wait for it, MINUS THREE C. and to prove it I have enclosed the picture. So I thought I better take some shots of our Autumnal plants before they shrivel up like we have.

The Autumn Crocus have already been affected.

Along with the Hydrangea.

Though under the bush and lower the blooms are still there.

Heathers are fine.

A young Berberis looking good in the sunlight (note the nearly full wood shed behind nearly ready for Winter)

The wife planted some beautiful Autumn colours this year.

The red leaves and berries are a reminder that it is not long until the thing that we must not mention this early will be happening in December.

More berries than leaves on this one.

15th.

An emerging baby Fly Agaric poisonous to humans, but……

As this older one shows, not to animals.

An annual event that brings the village together and visitors is the Church Flower Show. Fierce competition between friends for who will come out on top and win the “massive” prize money of ONE POUND for coming first, Fifty pence for second and Thirty pence for third. Along with a “proper” gardener I always judge the vegetables, which is great fun, as two of the pillars of the church are great friends but want to get the most points (as well as the money of course) and hold the coveted silver cup for that year, thus holding boasting rights. I had to get special rights from the wife this year as I had to go and judge on our fifty sixth wedding anniversary.

17th.

All ages are catered for and this was the children’s miniature garden on a plate.

Children’s decorate a cake.

Coffee and Walnut cake and a Lemon Drizzle Cake. The small slice out is the judges tasting slice, they try to take as small a slice as possible as all (or most) of the exhibits are auctioned off in the afternoon.

Winner of the floral display in a vase.

The Sloe Gin section, I have known the judge of these to need a person to drive them home as some are fairly strong.

I had to know my onions to judge these.

This is where I blow my own trumpet, as this was my winning entry into the Scottish Wildlife photography section.

20th.

Went to a garden center and this dog was guarding his owners car, just found it amusing, beautiful dog.

22nd

Today is the lady in my life’s birthday so as a treat that she had not visited we met my son and partner just outside Falkirk at these magnificent sculptures called The Kelpies. Kelpies are part of Irish and Scottish folklore and are creatures that live in lochs and rivers that can change shape into humans the name comes from the Gaelic for a colt “cailpeach”.

These sculptures stand thirty metres high and have stood next to the M9 motorway for ten years now and are a photographers dream, such wonderful shapes.

After spending a couple of hours here we went on to Stirling for a birthday meal and the waiter noticed my wife opening the present from my son and girlfriend. So at the end of the meal as a free gesture by the restaurant this appeared on our table.

Nice touch which got a good tip.

23rd.

Now for the favourite that will be the last time it will happen in our village that attracts the most people at any event. The Blair Castle Horse Trials. Thirty Five years continuous it has happened and has been spectacular every year.

Love the way the juniors are all dressed the same for the judging .

Takes some beating to do dressage in such beautiful surroundings.

Plus the view of the castle for the show jumping.

No faults on this jump.

So from now on it seems Scone Palace is holding this prestigious event at least for 2025 anyway.

29th.

We are hoping for a late burst of heat and pretend we have had a summer , but signs of Autumn are starting to appear in the garden.

An old wives tale is that if trees and shrubs have plenty of berries on them , that means a hard Winter. So if all the Rowan trees are anything to go by we are in for a real cold one this year. I hope not , but the only bonus for us will be lots of food for the birds, maybe get a good flock of Fieldfare and Redwings in the garden. The last shot is from the Elder in my neighbours garden, he might well make some wine out of the prolific berries when they turn deep red.

Another sign of Autumn on it’s way are the Autumn Crocus, this is our first one out and the slugs have found it succulent already.

Last of the Roses, our special one called Golden Wedding, given on that day as a present.

A white Harebell on it’s last legs.

A Buddleia though as we haven’t had much sunshine not really the weather for Butterflies to take advantage of it.

30th.

Went up to Sarah’s Pond fishing today and though I had two fish nothing worth photographing. So took some shots walking down the hills on my way home.

The first two are dead trees that were in a plantation that has been harvested of pines but the foresters were not interested in dead trees so they are still there. Then the sun shining through the Dandelion seeds. Lastly, I have never seen the Bracken so high, five to six feet, but with the sun shining on the top they look really silver in colour.

This first half of the month saw a return of an exhibition that has not been seen in the village for twenty eight years, which will be the first side of the title and at the end of the month (in the next blog) will be the end of a an annual event, so I can keep you all in suspense for that one.

3rd August.

In nineteen eighty eight a father and son ( John and Ian McCreadie) built a model railway of the main line going from the edge of the village up to the Drumochter and for the first time in twenty eight years the display returned to the village to raise funds for the Country Life and village hall in the village. I had never seen it before and was totally impressed with the accuracy of the buildings. So below I took some shots of the display (the lighting was hard going so excuse those shots) all be it at a different angle, but then went out a shot the real thing just to show you the comparison. You can also see that not a lot has changed since the thirty six years it was constructed.

The Atholl Arms Hotel.

The village Hall

Bank House, was for the bank, now a holiday let and occupied house.

What was the Highland shop and then the Post Office, now a jewellers.

The village green, the Yew trees have grown a fair bit since the model. Another interesting piece of history, in the models shot behind the green you can see an archway and attached to that (to the right) is another shop. This was built and not real for a television series shot in the village called Strath Blair which a lot of the elderly people remember being shot and indeed appeared as extras.

The railway mainline bridge going over the River Tilt.

West Lodge another entrance to Blair Castle.

Just to give you some idea of the size of the layout a tremendous feat.

I hope this has shown the accuracy of the models buildings and how the village has not really has not changed and just how brilliant it was.

11th.

Definitely not a “first” and I stated last blog “no more Swallows”, couldn’t resist this one.

Might not be that easy to spot but if you zoom in on the power line over sixty Swallows gathering, I do hope this was not them getting ready to migrate as “MY” Swallows have just started brooding another batch of eggs.

12th.

Something different in the plant side of my photos. The wonderful camera club that I am in in New York, has a theme night coming up next week and it is to do with the colour Green. So I went out and about and took as many different green leaves as I could, can you name them?

Plus a seed head to finish.

Been a busy start to the month so not much time for the blog. Note to self, “I must spend more time on my blog”. Sorted for the next one.

As the eggs have hatched and at present we have three very healthy and growing chicks, so the parents are working extra hard to feed them. Both parents have accepted the fact that we stand in the porch and more times than not that fella has got a camera in his hand, so I am able to get some really candid shots of the event. So be prepared to be bored with shots of their progress. I am sorry to say all this end of month blog will contain are my Swallow shots, they really have taken over my life. I will remind you this is the first time in living here we have had them nest on our house and so close and at eye level that it has been a real privilege, especially because they are declining in Britain.

16th.

Just to prove we have three. What did concern me when I enlarged this shot was that the parent is feeding a Bee, will that not sting the baby as it goes down?

If you stick yourself out front, you are sure to get the best of the food. “Go steady Mum on my tonsils pushing the food that far in”.

A good parent clearing out the poo, keeping the nest tidy.

21st.

Just five days since the last shots and how they have grown and as you can see from this shot we thought we had three babes, but as you can see we have four.

Having four in that tiny nest means as they are growing it is getting rather crowded in there, that is someone’s wing stretched out on the right of the nest.

Overcrowding can make you miserable as illustrated here.

My biggest concern is as they are growing so fast I might miss them fledge, so am watching them very closely this week.

26th

The parents are working their socks off to keep feeding these babes bringing a real mixture of insects this one has a Crane Fly in its mouth.

This chick in particular is just getting to large for the nest and must fledge soon.

27th

At last eight o’clock this morning big un jumped more than flew onto the window top about a yard from the nest and was calling for support or food from the parents.

One of the parents sat on the guttering opposite the nest trying to persuade the other three to come out and join in the sight of the big wide world.

But much to our annoyance and its parents the biggest bird flew back to the nest.

Thirty minutes later (led by the big un ) all four were out and being fed on the roof. We did not see them as they flew off, we thought for the last time. But eight o’clock at night , as if by magic, they were all back in the nest for their sleep.

29th.

Up and gone by eight o’clock this morning, I wonder if they will be back tonight?

They came home for the night again, maybe this will be the pattern until they migrate.

30th

The end of the month is near and so is my special Swallow blog, sorry to anyone who was not interested in this, but it has been a fascination to be so close and watch every stage of their growth. If I am lucky to witness the mass migration of these birds back to Africa next month, I will try and get a shot of them, I have seen them one day in the past sitting on the power lines and next day all gone, so lets hope I can do it again. This is the last shot I can be certain of getting and it was tonight (having been away all day) of them safely tucked up in their now very small bed ready for a further adventure tomorrow and getting stronger and stronger ready for that epic flight.

Well I got it all wrong re last blog, it did not get warmer after the initial couple of days in fact I think June after that got cold again even on this the last day of the month it was only ten degrees in the morning, warmed up to a crazy sixteen in the afternoon.

30th (June)

Had to start the July blog when the owners of these four beauties stayed in the village hotel last night . Three German registered Austin’s and one French one and the French was a pick up truck, which must be unusual. in immaculate condition. I bet they held up some traffic on the A9.

8th.

The village Angling club has some excellent weed cutting equipment that you attach to a boat and battery and it works like an underwater hedge trimmer does. Often they hire it out to other angling clubs, or we take it to individuals who have a small fishing loch and members (for a fee from the owner to the club) cut their weed for them. This is one such person who on their estate has this small loch that he stocks with rainbow Trout. I always offer to do this one as it is set way up in the hills and a beautiful spot, plus me and my helper and I are allowed to fish it and take one fish each, which after three hours hard work we did and had our quota.

9th.

Have discovered that my pond which has been established for the last twenty years has got a major leak and in need of a new liner, the old liner is hidden from view at the surface by the large rocks that I have had to move away to enable put the new one in. Of course outside the pond the wife has established a lovely garden and with my clumsiness and the fact that the rocks are to heavy to be carried, the surrounding plants had to be removed and planted up in pots. But of course we were helped with the ever present Robin.

10th

On a farm a couple of miles from our home it is shearing time for the flock of five hundred, sheep, lambs and rams. Every year one of my nephews comes up to Scotland and spends a month or so going around shearing, so this year I got the invite to go up to the farm and watch him and his team work. The farmer has it all organised and has the sheep lined up ready to get rid of all that wool (shot one) and Graham (nearest the camera in shot two) only has to open the gate on the walkway , pull the sheep down and sheer, while (shot three) the young lady takes away the fleece and puts it in the sack having to push it down to get the maximum into the sack. Good to see him as I have missed him other years, such hard work, they started at seven thirty and will go on until eight-ish tonight.

12th.

Our Swallow sitting a lot higher in the nest and that is because she /he has babes underneath him/her. Though I have not managed to get a shot of them feeding them I have observed at least two wee black heads poking above the parapit when being fed. So excited and happy to see.

13th.

A stem of Rattle about to burst open and spread it’s seeds.

What a miserable face on this Toad, maybe it just does not like me taking it’s photo.

In anticipation of a new liner arriving today (which it did) I emptied the pond in ready ness to put the new liner in tomorrow. Caught my six goldfish and after the Tench (a pair) buried themselves in the very bottom slurry I eventually got them out as well, plus six Common Newts Total depth down in that deepest part above the middle is four feet six inches. Hope to have the fish back in tomorrow afternoon and will complete the decor during the week.

Tonight’s sunset, here’s hoping it will be a good day tomorrow so I can finish the pond.

After a hard slog, the pond is all but completed just some digging over of the garden that I obliterated tomorrow and all back and working.