Cairngorms Life

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last couple of weeks have been a non eventful time within our community, nothing much going on. The fact is the busy time is on it’s way.

The International bi-annual Scout Jamboree happens at Blair Castle commencing tomorrow, hundreds of Scouts from all over the world arrive & have the time of their lives. Games, activities campfires with sing a long’s, you name it they do it. The village & Pitlochry are full of groups wandering around in different styles of uniforms, initially anyway looking very smart, but going downhill as the fortnight progresses. Hope to get some shots for you of all that happens, but can be a bit tricky taking shots of youngsters in this day & age, we shall see.

Meanwhile in the garden we have at least 4 Red Squirrels wondering about, most of the time fighting each other over food & territory. But as you can see from the first shot I think these two are related & for a while tolerate each other on the feeders.

One Red has become particularly tame & as from the next three shots allows me to get within 5 yards of it. I just love the agility of them, it stayed in that downward position on the tree, not sure if it was safe to come & feed with me that close or not. Then sat on the cross support for the feeders wondering the same. Before eventually going down & sticking it’s nose into the bird seed, which if you enlarge the third image you will note just how much didn’t go in it’s mouth.

The last shot is of one of my bird boxes taken over by Wasp’s, not content with filling the inside with their nest they have decided to insulate the outside of the box as well. Though I am not a lover of Wasp’s (in fact allergic to their sting) , you have just got to admire the structure & beauty of their nest building skills.

 

As promised, went up Glen Fender & photographed some of the many wild flowers that grow on the meadows, all these were taken within 100yds of where I parked my car  So if I went further afield I am sure I could find loads more.  I must admit I am not as good a gardener as the wife & names are not my forte, so I am grateful to a magnificent book called “Glen Fender Meadows (A Celebration of Diversity)” by John Ford , for providing me with the plant names.

These first two are different colour variants of the Heath Spotted Orchid

Next is a Northern Marsh Orchid

Common Birds Foot Trefoil  

As above but mixed in with wild Thyme, followed by a close up of the Thyme flower.

A Marsh Thistle not yet out in it’s purple flower.

The one below is a Water Aven, natures natural Velcro, that distributes it’s self by clinging to passing animals.

Not sure on this one but 99% think it is a Soft Rush, the seed comes out half way up the stem

Lastly my favourite this time of the year & it is really prolific in Glen Fender, the Mountain Pansy.

At last the season has changed to real Summer weather, hot & sunny here at present & this is bringing out the best in the bird world. Though I showed you in the last post we have had our failures with the Wagtail being predated & the Buzzard having the baby Pheasant, we have also had our successes. Loads of Blackbirds, we have had up to seven youngsters coming down for the sultanas at the back door & the first couple of shots show an adult female having just got out of the bird bath & sunning itself, after all it’s breeding, well deserved.

It seems though that there are a lot of second, even third broods in progress as can be in the next shot of a male filling it’s beak with sultanas to take back to the nest. Once the babes have fledged the parents tend to bring them down to feed rather than them filling their beaks in this manner.

The next shot is of just a few of our many Siskins on our feeders, normally if you are far enough away you will see over 20 on the feeders, but they are very easily frightened, as the Sparrow Hawk is always around. Any chance of getting close for a shot of the gangs of them is ruined because of this. These lovely birds are also bringing their young to the feeder or collecting food & going off to their nest to feed the babes. I would say the population of Siskins with us at the moment are treble the numbers when we had the ringing session.

Sparrows can be found all over the world & in my opinion are a much forgotten species that people just take for granted. Tree Sparrows are really disappearing from Britain & surprisingly House Sparrows are also in decline. When we moved here there were plenty of House Sparrows in the village & the other small hamlet 500yds away from ours, but none with us. So we had a mission to get them to come just that little further UP the glen to us. I built 3 Sparrow hotels, Sparrows love to live in communities & by having 3 separate nest boxes in one block they prefer that. Took us two years but we did get some residence in the garden, as far as I am aware this year we had three boxes where they bred & these youngsters are now fledged, but still relying on the parents to feed them. So the last two shots are of a lone babe on the lawn (you can still see the yellow line by it’s beak that makes the mouth look bigger for the parents to find) & 3 of the 5 babes up on the garage roof waiting to be fed. I of course was waiting for mum or dad to turn up with food for that perfect shot, but the babes decided to go find them instead of waiting. Typical youngsters spoiling my photography.

While this great weather lasts I intend going out & getting some wild meadow flower shots in the next couple of days, so watch this space.