I thought that when I undertook the task of photographing something different every day & the amount of material I have in this cracking part of the world I would have no difficulty. Into my second month & how wrong was I. The weather has been the main factor in the problem, it has been either way below zero or snowing for the first 13 days of this month, only today have things started to alter.
When you think around the tenth of the month Braemar, which is less than 30 miles away (as the crow flies) has had the coldest temperature in the whole of G.B., plus 6 to 8 inches of snow, we got of very lucky. Lowest temperature minus 11C for us & only 2 to 3 inches of snow and the excellent road clearing squad we have in our local depot, getting out of the house hasn’t been that hard. But when everything is covered with white stuff subjects are the problem. At least we were able to get out & get our first vaccinations which is a relief all round.
I hope the selection I have put up for the first 14n days of the month are okay, I am enjoying the challenge.
We thought the month was going to improve as this shot on the first shows the snow starting to melt. The reason I took this shot was it is not normal for the snow to melt from the bottom like this, it shows that the ground was warmer than the air.
Last month I showed you from the Garry Bridge looking South, this time on my visit into town I have taken Garry Bridge looking North.
Evidence of an early morning visitor to our garden & that it went straight to the wives heathers & ivy for a quick snack, not very happy about this & I was tasked with finding a solution. To enter the garden it had to & did jump a five bar gate.
Poor old sheep struggling to find anything to eat, but such hardy creatures as it was minus 3 when I took this shot.
My solution to the Roe Deer invasion, fluorescent elasticated string, sufficient to put the beast off as the next morning more prints came up to the gate & stopped, no attempt to get in. Brownie points for me.
One of several Reds in the garden at present, taking full advantage of the food offerings that our available courtesy of us. As you can see they are getting fairly used to me & this one just stood there as if to say “well are you going to feed me or not?”
This home grown bonsai has been part of me for over 20 years, a small sapling picked up out of the woods in Killin while on holiday up from England & it has survived every Winter up here since we moved, though this year it is looking a bit hard done by.
A Dunnock or Hedge Sparrow on the pond feeding on mealworms along with the Wren, 4 Robins & a Blackbird every morning now while it is so cold.
One of our many Greater Spotted Woodpeckers that feed in the garden, normally on the peanuts, but for once foraging naturally, they have even started drumming to attract a mate.
Just opened the back door first thing in the morning to feed the Blackbirds their sultanas & noticed the porch glass had this incredible pattern on it. Straight into the study, got camera & shot this , all whilst in minus5C & nothing but a dressing gown, bit chilly.
The wife drew back the curtains first thing & said “get you camera quick”. Being the obedient husband that I am I obeyed, only to be rewarded with these two in the field in front of our house. they were a bit scruffy & obviously very hungry to come down of the hills, but made my day. though SWMBO was none to happy as I had the bedroom window open for 15 minutes on a very cold morning.
With the month feeling very cold, plus lockdown, did not feel like going out to find a new subject for the daily shot. So photographed a Geranium house plant that has just provided us with a flower, a bit of sunshine at last.
Tried (without much joy) to experiment with my photography, placed a tray outside with water in & 3 different food colouring scattered around it, hoping to get a mosaic affect circle of coloured ice. I think a bird must have got into it before it froze , had a bath & all the colours merged to give this wee coloured ice. So I just broke it out of the tray & these fragments remained & this is my effort on making some art. Do not forget art is in the eye of the beholder.
At last on the St Valentines Day, we get some rain & the snow has started to melt, showing this weird unseen for ages green stuff in our field. The dark green (middle right) is in fact water running from the field above, if this is happening the rivers will soon be pretty full & the early Salmon will start their way up to the spawning streams, that means angling will soon begin & the rods may come out of hibernation. Then again the bad weather could return, you never know.