Firstly, Happy New Year to you all, yes I did go out & shout up the glen at the bells but due to the low cloud & general dampness I only heard 3 echo off the hills.
Now if I still lived down south I would have lots to report about the horrid weather they are experiencing, gale force winds coastal flooding etc. But up here it has been so “normal”. Occasional flurry of snow, minus temperatures on waking, warming up to a stunning 5C during the day, overcast, bit of rain. Just nothing happening at all. My son came up for New Year & he is more crazy on wildlife than me & being young has wonderful eyesight, which he points things of interest out to me & I put the bino’s onto & can just about see. So it was of no surprise when he found a herd of Red Deer stags way over on the distant hillside, this is where they can often be seen & only come closer when the snow is deep & they struggle to find food. This year being no real continuous deep snow has meant they can stay more out on the moors to feed, away from humans.
But it did remind me of when the hills were heavy with snow in March 2015, but down at our level it had all gone. A large herd of young Red Deer got spooked by something & ran into the field below our house. They were really spooked & just ran round in circles not knowing where to go, they stayed here for a good twenty minutes in shear panic. Of course out came the camera & below is just one of the many shots I got before they ran up the field, over the fence into the next one & were off. A wonderful moment for us & our neighbours, who, during their 30 odd years of living here had never seen anything like it.
