Firstly may I wish you all a Happy New Year, may it be a good one for all of you & I hope to have the inspiration to write on here a bit more often.
As you can see I have somehow worked out how to add some of my shots to the post (all by myself as well). Unfortunately I haven’t mastered putting the text first YET, so you will see the photos first instead of after my comments.
Thought I would start 2019 off with a bang, though I have cheated a bit, the first two shots of the fireworks were taken the Saturday before New Year, as I think there must have been a wedding at Blair Castle, these started up at 11pm & as you can see by the standard of the shots it was my first attempt at taking fireworks. Had to have my big lens for these as they were well over half a mile away from the house.
The next shot shows the type of weather we had over Christmas, plenty of snow the week before (see bird shots), but unbelievably mild over the festive time with us mainly shrouded in the mist, do not think we went below 8C for days. The particular shot was from our house looking across the glen.
In the next shot it was the Friday after Christmas & a beautiful sunny day with just our Munro’s tops covered in the clouds, thought about a wee stroll up, but what was the point with no view? (if you believe that you do not know me).
What blog from me would be complete without showing off some of our wonderful birds we have in the garden. I have set my hide up so that I can focus on our pond & the birds drinking from it. The first one the ever photogenic Robin, it came down on the ice of the pond for what I presumed was a drink, but instead it ducked it’s head down into the water & plucked out a stem of weed. This it then took up onto the snow & proceeded to eat it (as shown in the next shot). Then of course I had to take a shot at the Blue Tit as it really showed out against the white of the snow.
Lastly a shot of my “old” fishing buddy (actually he is a lot younger than me), who has discovered a new string to his bow (get it). Trevor is not only one of the best anglers I have had the pleasure to fish with, he took up archery a few years ago & is now coming home with plenty of medals from Scottish competitions, both indoor & out. This is him practicing at home with one of his many bows. Well done Trev so good to see such dedication, though it does mean I had less trips out fishing with him than other years.