Author: David Miller

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.

Sorry I have not been online for a while, but I have an excuse. I am useless with anything new in technology, so when my eldest son gave me the most marvelous combined late birthday early Christmas present a wonderful mini desktop computer, the size of a double pack of playing cards, I knew I would have teething problems. Don’t get me wrong he spent a fair while of his weekend with us (suffering from jet lag having flown in from New York) setting everything up, transferring everything over from my old computer, explaining everything to me (this of course went straight over my head) & showing me things that I would never have thought possible from such a minute little machine. But now I am operating the system without his presence I am struggling & will have to wait until January when he is next over to get it sorted as when he tries to explain what to do over the phone I struggle to understand & he (sometimes) loses it with me.

So what has all this to do with my blog? Well I seem unable to put any photos into my library & as I wanted to show you our influx of birds that have come to us for the winter, this is a bit of a problem. I have tried various methods to import these shots, but none seem to be working. So unless my son reads this & sends me a 20 page email explaining in laymen terms what to do, there will be no shots until January.

The largest collection of new birds in the garden are Goldfinches, with anything up to 20 arriving on the feeders at once, mainly eating Niger Seed, but also sunflower hearts. These I think would be coming from the colder climes on the continent & have found a haven to keep them fed all winter. On the other hand flocks of Long Tailed Tits are feeding on the peanuts & I guess these are local but are happier eating from the feeders rather than forging in the woods.

Large flocks of geese (are they a Gaggle?) fly over head daily going into the local fields & waterways, returning with their usual noisiness early evenings.  Not many Redwings or Fieldfares about yet, so the Blackbirds are feasting on the berries instead, so if any of the former do come to the garden there will not be to much food for them.

We have a pair of Jays that now frequent the feeders, these are very aggressive if any other birds come near them, as is the Magpie that for the first time since we have been here is becoming an early morning regular to the garden.

The one bird I feel sorry for as it gets colder is our Buzzards, most of their diet seems to be worms & with the ground getting colder, the worms are going deeper & it makes it more difficult for the Buzzards to feed on them. I often get a pheasant given to me & in my old age cannot be bothered to pluck them & roast a whole bird, so normally just pull back the skin to expose the breast, cut them out & then throw the rest of the carcass out into the field. Within an hour one or two Buzzards will find it & eat away, while I photograph them from afar. Sometimes if disturbed they will fly off with the body, but often just sit on the power cable poles & wait for me to clear off & are back on it. This year when they flew off on one occasion, the Magpie was down like a shot & ate before the Buzzard returned. I always throw the carcass in roughly the same spot & I wonder if the shepherd thinks “why do all these pheasants die in this spot?”

As for village life, Table Tennis is going from strength to strength with an average of 12 each week, with some folks coming from Pitlochry to enjoy our fun, some are missing in the winter as the Curling has started in earnest, but it is good to see such numbers enjoying their weekly exercise. We are trying to start a junior session before the adults, first week last week, but despite kids expressing an interest before the start, nobody turned up, but we will keep going & hopefully the word will spread & we can get it off the ground.

As we are nearing December we shall have the turning on of the village Christmas lights & the arrival of F.C. for the children, plus the indoor Christmas market. All of which I hope to take some photos of, but if you will see them before January is any bodies guess, my lack of technology is embarrassing.

Okay it is a, one day past, full moon & when we have a full moon this time of the year & clear skies it is normally a frost. BUT, woke up to a thin layer of snow at our level & loads on the hills. So can we say this is the start of winter, or, just a hic-cup in Autumn? lets hope it is just the latter, as really this could be a looooong Winter.

Having such a good light (the golden hour to photographers) I wanted to capture this for you all. But just out of bed, zero degrees Centigrade, wind factor making it a lot colder, there was no chance of me going out in my dressing gown for a photo. So logically, the best view was from the bedroom (apart from the electric cables in a couple of shots) opening the bedroom window was the way to get the shots. Now the bedroom was snug & warm with the wife sitting up reading, so in order to get my shots the window had to be open to the elements as short as possible. From the reaction, maybe I wasn’t quiet quick enough :).

But I got the shots I wanted, first & second are looking North from the window, what I find strange is that our side of the hills looks thickish snow but the wind was blowing from the North, so the last shot (looking South) should in theory have more snow on it, but it hasn’t. Maybe one of you educated lot can tell me why this is?

Lets hope we do not get any more snow until at least December 24th & it is a mild Winter, as us oldies still have to clear the driveway of snow.

 

 

 

 

I really love the fact that in Britain we get all four seasons & as I grow older I realise that this is by far my favourite one. As a child you of course love the summer with school holidays & I am sure a lot more regular warm & sunny days than the unpredictable ones at present. But give me Autumn every time now.

Here in “Big Tree Country” as this area of Perthshire is known, we tend to get a much more colourful Fall as the Americans call it, our equivalent to New England I suppose. But just as attractive are the small everyday garden bushes, as the  pyracantha (Fire Thorn) shows in the first 3 pictures, I think they are 3 different verities of the same family, but they look great this year & the Blackbirds love the berries.

The last two days have been freezing overnight (down to minus 2C again) but the days have been wonderful clear skies & sunny, with just a nip in the air, proper Autumn weather. But Saturday was wet all day & blowing a gale, hence in the next shot you will see the Acer has lost half it’s leaves already, we normally get a couple of weeks show out of this wonderful colourful bush, not this year a week at the most.

The next shot shows you why we love our view, this is looking down towards the village in a south westerly direction from our house, two days ago the direction  was where we were watching the rain coming from, hardly seeing the first lot of trees, now look at it.

Lastly looking from the field at the front of the house, back towards our home, even the common old Silver Birch looks splendid & hasn’t dropped all it’s leaves yet, plenty of gutter clearing when it does.

 

I know, Loch Dunmore & The Enchanted Forest are a mile outside The Cairngorms, but I am so involved with the place & event I cannot help writing a “few” words & photos of the place. My involvement stems around the fact that 1/ I am the chairman of the Angling club that has the coarse fishing rights to fish there. 2/ I love the place for it’s peace, tranquility & quality fish. 3/ I need to protect all of this from those terrible artist who create this marvelous annual show (joke Simon & Kate). 4/ The people who bring the public this spectacular display are the greatest team you could ever want to work with. Lastly 5/ I love every minute of rowing the crews out with the pumps & lights, great exercise & fresh air.

The show is on for a month with an expected visitor number of about 80,000 & is a light & sound show, covering an area of about 3 acres.

First three shots is me trying to be all artistic, taken in daylight but with the spotlights on the leaves.

Fourth shows you how a red lamp can transform a common Silver Birch into something magical.

Five to seven are trees just flooded with light to give a great affect when it is a dark evening.

The next two are balls the size of a football lit up in various colours, going some 40feet up conifers, changing colour in time to music & giving a wonderful reflection onto the water.

The last two are of various wicker works around the display area, the mask’s maybe 4ft in size, while the whole one I deliberately showed the traffic cones in to give you some idea of it’s size. It is the entrance to the show & it just gets better as you go round. In fact this year, with its nature theme has been hailed as the best show ever.

I am sorry but more shots will follow sometime of the incredible water screen projection of animals in the centre of the main loch.

 

Firstly apologise for the gap between posts, it has been a busy time with me helping to get my favourite subject ready to be opened to the public, of course you have guessed, The Enchanted Forest. Opened to the press & special guest’s last night (councillors & dignity getting a free look), so as it went without much of a hitch, we can all relax. Must say I think it is the best show EVER & you can expect many a shot on here from me, but that will be in a couple of days time when I have been through my hundred or so photos that I have taken already. 🙂

But as promised in my last blog, some photos of a few of the many fungi around this year, not sure why it is such a good year, may be the incredible summer, plus those early frosts telling them to hurry on out as it may be a short but abundant season for them.

I could look up all the names of the 9 fungi shots below as I have Roger Phillips wonderful guide book, but would you be that interested I don’t think so. So just get on & enjoy the beauty of them all, without them I am told we would not survive, for all that it does below the soil surface. Therefore we should be pleased to see them.

All these were taken from within my garden, so a fair amount of variety just in this small patch & as you will see where it is not obvious of their size I have placed a £1 coin next to them just to give you some idea. The second one is my favourite though 6 & 7 come up in the exact same spot every year so are a permanent attraction annually.

It may well be only the second week in September, but already Autumn colours are upon us. We have already had zero degrees Centigrade, followed by a good layer of Hailstones & this is what started the botany to shut down. I do love the Autumn colours, but would have loved a bit more heat first.

Preparations for this years Enchanted Forest begins next week, so a busy schedule ahead for me. Looks like being another good show with a few new ideas that we hope will look spectacular.

Below are a load of photo’s to reflect the changing season here in Perthshire, all taken either in my garden or just outside. The Rowan was one of the first to start to change colour (shot 4) it is a pity the Blackbirds have started to eat the berries already as there might not be any left for the Fieldfares & Redwings that have started to arrive.

The mushrooms seem to be prolific this year & I think my next blog will most probably be a feature on the variety we get up here.

It is good to see a few of the brighter flowers still hanging on from summer, the climbing rose with it’s last 3 buds, The Rebeccia (think that’s what it is, well the yellow daisy thing)  & the Sunflowers cheering the place up. Incidentally, we never plant Sunflowers, it is the Coal Tits burying the black seeds throughout the garden to keep them going throughout the Winter, as if I don’t feed them them every day. Lastly the Autumn Crocus that are just coming out in the garden making a splash of colour wherever they are.

 

 

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Firstly I must apologise for no recent posts, so much has been going on both domestically & in village life & I have not covered any of it. Shall put the excuse of arranging a couple of days away & renewing our wedding vows on our 50th anniversary. You could say Brownie points before the blog, but honest it was making sure my” young ” bride had a good time, which we did.

As for in the village, we had the church flower show, which once again I was one of two veg judges (some cracking entries this year) which, I forgot to take my camera to. Also the annual international horse show at Blair Castle, which I was unable to attend on the Saturday as I was busy, intended to go on the Sunday, but it poured with rain all day, so I didn’t go. Apparently attendances were down this year, that bad weather on the Sunday & a fatal accident on the A9 causing havoc for 6 hours on Saturday.

Also it was the Thunder in The Glen, Harley Davidson meet at Avimore , all of these events I covered last year, but would have tried to get some different shots this time round. Incidentally the fatal accident was a person on the pillion of a bike going to Avimore.

 

So just to keep in touch I have put up 3 shots of last nights sunset, a bit different from normal as there was a fair few rain clouds coming over while it was setting, but I liked the effect. with our dining room window facing West, we get some cracking sunsets, but this one just appealed to me. Hope you like it.

 

 

 

I know this blog is all about Cairngorms Life, but a little poetic licence must be allowed for this post, as I am travelling about 15 miles South of the Park to The Loch of Lowes. Home of the famous Osprey nest (see the first shot) but also in recent years home of some Beavers. Went there last night in the hope of seeing one , but just in case we went to the Lunan Burn right beside the A 923 Blairgowrie road where we knew there were some Beaver dams just so I could have something to write about. This spot has become so well known that coaches stop on the straight bit of road & show the passengers the dams some 5 yards from the road edge. So the first two Beaver related  shots show you how hard the Beavers work to cut down the trees, which just like coppicing by man, will regrow from the stumps. These are then transferred to the dams, which I have tried to illustrate in the next two shots.

We then went on to The Scottish Wildlife Trust sight half a mile back towards Dunkeld to their hides, of which two are left open for the likes of us to visit at dusk to try & see the Beaver. Now if you look at the size of Loch of Lowes (in the next shot) you can see the chances of actually seeing a Beaver are pretty remote.

But what a surprise when my visiting son yelled out “Beaver”, and there 200 yards to our left was the elusive creature, not swimming away, but swimming towards us. The next shot shows it that distance away & the next when it was just 20 yards away from us just casually paddling along passed the hide. What an exciting moment for us all, three of us in that hide & two in the on. Quality of the shots is not great, but it was gone 9pm when we got these.

My first ever wild Beaver, hence the reason I had to share it with you all.t

One of the this years Osprey, fledged but waiting to be fed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I stated in my last post I would try & bring you some shots of the International jamboree of the Scouts Assoc. Enquired with one of their many official photographers if I could take distant or not recognisable photos & he was fine about it. This year more than other years this seems to be a truly international gathering. I have spoken with American, Canadian, Polish, tried Japanese but not that successful & of course a load of Scots and British. That was just those I saw today, I am sure there are many more countries represented.

Not sure how many years this has been going now, but it really is well organised from the camping, cooking & activities provided. With the camping you can see from the first two shots, the younger ones are arranged into 6 large circles with each camp named after a Scottish clan, in the first shot that is the Stewart camp. Behind them (second shot) are the more senior scouts in their individual tents or small group. With marquees for food & entertainment being the white buildings.

Activity wise you can see in the second shot the volleyball court & football pitch, with the rest of the shots showing just a few of the fun things to do. The BMX course with see-saws & ramps. A very popular slide with soap suds & water, which you go down on a li-lo until you come to a wet soapy stop at the end. Lastly a obstacle course which included this steep bank which you had to pull yourself up while underneath some heavy duty netting & an instructor throwing cold buckets of water over you, the kids loved it. The first two out were not very muddy, so the instructor made them go down on their stomachs & crawl across the mud path. Not complaint from either of them.

Other activities included Trout fishing on our club Lochan, the scouts put in 100 fish & fish for them with rods & bubble floats, using sweetcorn as bait, about 15 up there at once for a two hour session. They can either put the fish back or take them back to camp & cook them over an open fire. Also they go on orienteering courses or day hike & camp in the hills overnight. Some just go out in the hills hiking all night & camp during the day. Cycle rides on road or track depending on their age & also camp duties such as the cooking or litter picking.

I think it is wonderful to see so many youngsters ( in the high 100s) from all over the world, getting on & enjoying the fun of unity & youth. May it continue for many years.