Author: David Miller

Well Autumn is here officially & also physically. My min/max external thermometer read just 2C this morning & now at 10am it is still only 6C, so yes it is colder. Looking at the amount of fungi about we  may have a bumper crop of Chanterelles in our secret location to pick, shall have to get there this week & have a feast. Of course I shall try & photograph as many species of fungi & put them on here for you to see, Chanterelles are the only one I feel safe in eating as they are very tasty & I know what they look like.

In the first shot below is how yonder hills looked this morning a bit hazy but with that cloud like mist in the glens below the hills, it is stunning.

Second photo of the Starlings, in the previous blog I stated they would soon be gone, but no, this year they have hung on & increased their numbers. I counted 90 in this lot (thought I would put that to save you lot counting them), so a definite increase from last week. How do they know where to meet up? All done without the use of mobile phones.

Last shot, as I opened the bedroom curtains this morning the sun was shining on this male Chaffinch, a perfect light for a quick photo, so on went the long lens & got a couple of crackers of him, I suspect trying to get warm after such a cold night. It might be one of our all year round resident Chaffinches, or it may be on its way south after that chilly night. One thing is for sure, it will not get a better dining table than he gets here.

 

 

When a mate says” Fancy a couple of hours fishing”, it would be rude to say no. So when Rami asked that question on Monday, I was back home booking a boat for Loch Kinardochy before he could change his mind. So once the bread was baked & on the shelves in The Mill, we were off. We arrived full of expectation, the whole Loch to ourselves, nice ripple, excellent cloud cover, fish rising everywhere, what more could we want.

Well catching some fish would be nice. First one that took my fly (which even though we never saw it) felt a really good fish & was in control of my little lightweight rod from the word go & promptly went to the bottom & into the weed, one lost. The second was smaller but still edible size, I got to the side of the boat when it came off the barbless hook & number three (and last fish) just went down in the weed & was lost. Rami using wet flies (I was on dries) never had a touch in the whole 4 hours of fishing.

But do you know what, both of us left the Loch a lot more relaxed, happy & had enjoyed each others company, so much that a fish would of only been a supplementary bonus. That’s fishing. There will always be other days when we can just enjoy the nature & friendship that two fellas can have in common maybe even catch a fish.

As you can see by Rami’s concentration, he was determined to catch, the other 3 shots show you what a beautiful place this is, especially with the heather all out in bloom.

 

 

Nothing much happening today went fishing for an hour, two rises to my fly, but missed both, must be getting old.

Just thought that if you wanted to look at some more of my photos, you can look at my Flickr site https://www.flickr.com/photos/145875723@N02/. Where I put my better shots before transferring them elsewhere.

Jan & I were out working in the garden this morning & all we could here was the roar of Harleys going back down the A9. When the drizzle started I said “That’s it I am going to park beside the A9 & get some shots of the bikes”. Found a small lane that runs parallel to the road, got in the passenger seat, wound down the window & 110 shots later thought that better be enough, though I could have stayed there all day a real pleasure to hear & see some magnificent bikes. As most of the bikes were doing 60mph I had a few failures & a few not as sharp shots as I would have wanted, but overall it was just great being there. Below are a few of what I shot, a complete mixture of Harleys, or at least I think they are all Harleys. To give you some idea of what it must have been like in the ride I have attached a You Tube video. Took 8 minutes for the bikes to pass.

Shall be more organised next year & wonder around Pitlochry, as a fair few stop off there for refreshments.

 

What a busy weekend within our National Park. Up at Avimore they have the “Thunder in the Glen” event, this is the biggest  Harley Davidson gathering in the whole of Europe with well over 3000 of these magnificent machines gathering together. At lunch time today ALL of them take over a set route & it is literally a thunder of bikes going up through the glens around Avimore. Since last weekend all we have heard going up the A9 are Harleys, a constant rumble of that wonderful sounding engine. Dread to think what the A9 will be like when they return, though a Bank Holiday in the rest of the U.K. it isn’t one here on Monday, so at least the Scottish bikers will be returning.

Here in the village is the most attended event for the village, The Blair Castle International  Horse Trials, it started Thursday & finishes tomorrow. Over 40,000 visitors expected. All sorts of events from International Trials , to Pony Clubs, falconry, dog racing (see below), lots of trade stalls & plenty of food & drink. Us locals normally wait until 3.30pm each day as that is when it is free to get in, though we are mostly wise enough not to use the free parking as once people start leaving it is our equivalent of the M25, a giant car park instead of a road. So we all use the back roads or just walk from the village.

Below are some of the shots from today, it is the first time I have tried to photograph horse jumping, so excuse the standard of shots. Self explanatory shots, the Pony Club one is of todays winners of the relay event, boy do those ponies go. As for the dogs, they run over the obstacles, pick up a tennis ball & run back to their handlers, though some do cheat a bit & go round the jumps.

Sorry for the length of time I have not posted, I said in my last blog that I was busy, well so as not to tell people our house was empty I was in fact away down to Cornwall for a week with my sister, but I am back after my mammoth 1,248  round trip ( one disadvantage of living in such a cracking place).

What did we get welcomed back to, some extremely heavy rain, I had every intention of walking the 150 yards down to our burn/river Fender to take some shots to show you how quickly it rises & then falls. But we walked down to the village after the downpour when the Fender was in full spate & roaring, but on walking back an hour or so later (in the sunshine) it had dropped right back to near it’s normal level. This is a good illustration of spate rivers & is how people (fishers normally) can get caught out by the sudden rise & drown. We also have a large amount of hydro electric schemes up here & when the authorities release water from the turbines, this raises the level even quicker , with the same results.

We witnessed annual  event this morning. We never get more than one or two Starlings in our garden & they are not a common bird in the village either. But every year they gather in flocks around the house, we presume in getting ready to migrate back to wherever they go back to. While eating breakfast we saw about 200 yds. away a flock of over 60 sitting on the power cables. fortunately they stayed there long enough for me to put my big lens on the camera & capture a small portion of them on the nearest lines. It would be great to see a murmaration of them (as we have seen down south) , but I doubt we will get one as they normally move on fairly quickly.

 

 

 

Today was the annual church flower & produce show in our village. This is not just open to church goers, but all the village & is well supported by one & all. There is a sections in the following categories, Veg, flowers in a vase, house plants, jams, chocolate cake, custard tarts, black bun, photography, art & home brews.There are also sections for men only (to try & encourage men to do some baking) , plain scones, jam & Victoria sponge. Children are covered as well with mini gardens, pictures etc. For the last 6 years I have (along with one other ) have judged the vegetable section, most probably the best supported section of the show. The village has many keen gardeners, none more so than two members of the church who always have a contest between themselves, it is a bit like the competion between Joe Grundy & Bert Fry on the Archers & are often spoken of in that same manner. So a lot is dependant on us two judges to judge as fair as possible. Some crafty competitors try to put any defect on their produce on the bottom of the plate, so we have to check them all.

I did put some photos in, but did not read the brief, which was views of Scotland, all my shots were my bird ones, so ooops from me.

Below are some of the photos I took before the church was open to the public, showing the flowers & veg, Sloe & Fruit Gin & the ladies judging the jams. After the event being open all day at about 4pm they draw the raffle, then auction off all the produce, or at least all that the entrants want to be sold. You would not believe the prices for the cakes & gins, especially those that won first place.

Although I shall not be going, in the village hall tonight is a jazz quartet playing with money being raised for the village hall refurbishment & a local charity. So you see we are very active here & though it normally ends up with the same old faces organising things, they all get an excellent attendance by both locals & holiday makers.

I shall be very busy in the coming week & so will not be writing my blog for at least that week, so catch up with you then.

 

 

I have just realised that this blog is all about life in the Cairngorms & I have given you no real facts about this wonderful area of the U.K. So be ready to be bored with all the following facts & figures.

The Cairngorm National Park is the biggest in the whole of the U.K. covering an area of 1748 square miles, which to put that in proportion is twice the size of the Lake District Park & bigger than Luxemburg. Going from Granton on Spey in the North, Balleter in the East, Kingussie in the West & good old Blair Atholl in the South.

It has 43 Munros (that is mountains over 3000 ft) of which 5 out of the 6 are the highest in Britain. More important it has 8 working distilleries within it, so need to venture any further than here.

We of course have Balmoral Castle one of the Queens residences, plus even more important we have here in our village Blair Castle, the home of Britain’s only allowed private army. This status being granted by Queen Victoria when she visited the castle & was escorted by The Highlanders (as they are known) on her way to Balmoral. Also in our village is the Folk Museum covering the rural life of ordinary village folk local to this area. Plus of course the one of only a handful  of fully functioning watermills in Scotland (don’t forget to watch Nadia’s tv programme coming on soon to see it in action).

For all you film buff’s 10 films & T.V. programmes have been made here :-

Outlander, Mrs Brown (Queen Victoria’s film, no relation to Mrs Brown the comedy), Centurion, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, The Dark Knight Rises, Batman, of course Brave, The Crown, Victoria & Abdul, Monarch of the Glen & The Queen. I can exclusively reveal to those outside the village that for a couple of months ago we had a film crew here in Blair Atholl filming up Glen Tilt & around the castle The Queen part two. They took over the village hall for two weeks ,storing all the costumes required in there, had a huge marque in the car park for out door props like fences & trees & loads of trucks & people carriers everywhere. Put a good amount of money into the local economy including money towards the village hall restoration fund.

One funny story, which must have annoyed the film crews. When they were filming the horse & carriage around the castle, one of our many low flying military jets we get coming through the glen, kept circling the area, which must have interrupted the schedule some what for that day.

So you see this area is a haven for us locals & also holiday makers from all around the world. On another occasion I will discuss how that affects our lives.

 

We had a dry day so it was outside work all morning, the Misses doing her annual painting of all 3 sheds & garage with fence paint, this is the only painting I let her do, the rest are my jobs. I was replacing a rotten work top in my potting area, so both busy.

After lunch we decided to go for a walk UP the glen & I took my camera with my long lens, in the hope of finding some deer to show you. Non in the first “normal” spot but looked further down the field & there were two female Roe Deer, unfortunately they were well over a quarter of a mile off & were fully aware of our presence. So quickly set up the monopod & steadied myself to have a go at getting them. So the first 3 shots below are of those two, before they disappeared from sight.

We then walked along a sheep’s path instead of the road, a long narrow field with woods each side , so felt hopeful. Not a bird or deer in sight, but as we were climbing over a gate at the far end of the field we disturbed a Roe fawn lying in the grass. It was off like a rocket before I even had time to raise my camera, never to be seen again. We joined the original road & there 200 yards in front of us were another pair of Roe’s. But as soon as they saw us, which I am sure was way before we saw them, they were off. Hence the last shot as I got one just before it was out of sight.

We occasionally get Roe in the field in front of us, especially if we are about early morning, normally during the winter we see them more often. A few years ago during a cold period we had over sixty Red Deer stags came into the field having been spooked by something on the hills, that is the shot above. Though not as I have said a shot from today I thought you would like to see that this isn’t a fisherman’s tale, it really happened.

 

A couple of usual days in the national park, apparently the ceilidh was a great success, I didn’t go as I virtually have two left feet & the wife does not know her left from her right. But it was good how both village people turned out & holiday makers to make it a triumph & what encouragement for those young musicians.

Here at home had an unexpected task when a neighbours daughter was informed that her partner had been taken into Dundee Hospital intensive care & she should be at his bedside as it was touch & go. The girls Dad does not like driving at night, Mum does not drive & she was to upset to drive, so a phone call to me ended up seeing me drive the 70 odd miles to Dundee at 11 last night, getting home at just gone 2am. Glad to say he has come through the ordeal, but not out of the woods yet.

We went for a walk UP one of our hills yesterday, was a bit windy with the threat of rain, hence the picture of “her indoors” walking in her Rockstar Games coat. The main reason for the shot is to show you just how steep our hills are & how good it is for a couple of 70 year olds to walk them, though I am sure they get steeper every time we do these walks.

After we walked down the village for our refreshments today I chilled out with half an hour in my hide & was rewarded with some good bird photos (wont bore you with more of them) & the fab shot of the Red Squirrel having just come out of the nut box with a couple of peanuts in it’s hand, looking at me as if to say “you can take as many shots of me as you like, but you are not having my peanuts”. It always fascinates me just how long the fingers & toes are on these beauties, though if it were human I guess we would need those nails a bit shorter. But if you could see how athletic it is amongst the trees, then you need that length of nails for the grip.