Cairngorms Life

This time of the seasons I am always glad for February as it is a good short month, twenty nine days is what all months should be or at least give one of January’s to February. I am fed up of talking about the weather at present as from one day to the next you just do not know what to expect. We have got to head south for five days and when we go all the way down to the most southern county in England they are forecasting snow, so will keep you informed on that one but that will be the extent of weather related discussion on this blog.

My intentions are to be bright on this unhappy start to the month as after last month we (maybe just me ) need to try and start being brighter again. So I think we are off to a good start with the great Red Squirrels that frequent our garden.

2nd.

We have had a good amount of rain and snow melt so our small river has been roaring and the waterfalls look spectacular in these conditions and will help add electricity to the grid and Lude estate when it reaches the turbo one hundred yards further on.

On a previous blog a few years ago now, I showed you this old David Brown tractor but it was more intact than it is now, down to the bare bones now and not many useable parts left.

4th.

The first shot my beautiful Red was feeding away in the wooden trough, when (second shot) he just went down to his stump and froze. It was only then that I realised there were no birds about as well. Went out clapped my hands and the male Sparrowhawk took off from the evergreen right behind the squirrel. I think the hawk would have come of worse as reds are very aggressive and go straight for the legs of hawks when attacked and a hawk is no good with broken legs.

16th.

I have not processed these shots this is the real colour in the fog. It was approaching sunset and the sky had a real glow but the fog was still along the river and the combination of the two gave this wonderful colour to the shots.

17th.

It was a week of magical sunsets and today was no exception, still a bit of snow on the hills.

24th.

In my introduction I said I wanted to try and be happy in this short month, well nothing makes me happier than setting up my portable hide in the garden and grabbing a few bird shots. In order as they are, male Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Female Siskin.

27th and 29th.

We should all be like Snowdrops. In the first shot they are defeated and lying flat due to minus eight C overnight temperatures. Two days later when it is a bit warmer up they rise as if nothing had happened. We all get our down days but if we are strong we can lift ourselves up and enjoy what life has to offer us.

28th.

Had to go into Perth today and I had a bit of time on my hands before an appointment so took my camera with me. The intentions were to go to my favourite spot on a overflow stream to the mighty River Tay and film my favourite bird, the Kingfisher. Saw a lightening flash of colour as one went passed me but that was it. So then along comes a pair of Mallard which was okay, followed by this Female Gooseander. Now from where I was standing was ten feet above the water and the water was clear so I was able to get the bird chasing minnows under the water, something I have never achieved before. So I was able to finish the blog on a happy note in a sad month family wise.

If you saw my last blog you will realise that Winter is fully upon us and we were informed that our weather was going to improve from today and over the weekend. Rain and strong winds coming over the Atlantic rather than from the north. So imagine our surprise in waking up to a further two inches of snow and overnight temperatures of minus eight. But once again it is a wonderful sunny morning , which I would prefer over rain.

19th.

Though we had plenty of Fieldfares fly through early in the winter , one has remained with us and is very nervous, so I had to take this one of it mopping up our berries through the bedroom window and it would not turn and face me.

At the moment it is two degrees under freezing and as you are aware throughout this week it has been even colder, but these contractors have been in everyday building this new fence half a mile across the glen from us. They must be going home each day frozen through to their bones but they have virtually completed their task. Well done to them. Only selfish problem for us is above that stone wall is normally where the Red Deer Stags come to feed under these conditions and we have not seen them because of the activity.

30th.

Sorry for not many sections in this end of January blog, but we have a few problems and was not really in the mood to go out and take any photos.

The last week have been the most unusual I have experienced while living in Scotland, at the end of last week the west coast of the country experienced the warmest January temperature ever recorded at nineteen C , we even were into plus eleven. This of course gives you false hope of a spell of decent weather, but no, yesterday morning we wake up to minus eight and had been down to minus ten in the night. Now this morning it was plus eight, not snow but heavy rain and wind, totally all over the place. So initially I intended to show you some shots of signs of Spring and then back with vengeance comes Winter.

In the sunlight the Beech looking golden.

Daffodils poking through the ground.

Then the frost comes and the ground colour suddenly changes

The merging Snowdrops start to think “should I come out”?

I left the car out of the garage and wish I hadn’t.

The frost is on the summerhouse windows again.

The Lambs Ear looks more like Polar Bears.

The shrubs are in bud but white.

Seed heads left for the birds are camouflaged.

So overall a miserable week or so, but that is January out of the way, the days are getting longer and hopefully Spring will be around the corner, please.

Hoping that you all enjoyed the festive season and now we are approaching getting back to normal (if we ever can), it is time to start planning the things that are important to you all in life and what you hope to achieve towards those goals.

With me the greatest concern (if this winter so far has been anything to go by) is to top up my wood store to keep us warm through next winter. It has been a cold start to the year and it is definitely not getting any warmer. Last night the temperature outside went down to minus eight C and by ten o’clock was still minus six with a wonderful sunny day.

Below are some of the shots I took first thing today before the sun (hopefully) gets round to melt it all.

10th.

When does a summerhouse become a winter wonderland? answer this morning with all the frost patterns on the windows, taken from the inside looking out.

As for the poor shrubs they have endured this for the last three days and though they look spectacular they must be hoping that better weather is around the corner.

12th.

Overnight the temperature went down to a really cold minus ten C. This then applied frost upon the frost as the previous day the temperature never went above freezing. Of course this meant I had to go out with the camera and capture a few different images than yesterdays, these two were the pick of the bunch. Especially the second one as I consider this one of the best shots I have ever taken, I just love how the frost is clinging to the spiders web and the complication of this web, not like your normal spiral effort. The backlight of the sun just gives it that little boost. Must admit I didn’t stay out long as it was still fairly cold, never mind heavy snow forecast in a couple of days and I can get out again with the camera.

17th.

Yesterday afternoon we had nearly three inches of snow in just over an hour and our view was a total white out. Then overnight the lowest temperature in the whole of the U.K. was Minus Fourteen C, just 15 miles up the road from us. I recorded on my min/max thermometer, minus Thirteen C , so we were just one degree off of being the coldest in Britain. When I went out and took todays shots it was a beautiful, still, sunny day, but the temperature was still minus ten, so I wasn’t out long.

This shot to show the depth of the snow on this fence post.

Was going to take the car up the hill to capture the Munro’s but didn’t fancy the road conditions even though the snow plough had been up.

Opposite the road junction is the entrance to a set of holiday let’s called Tom of Lude, this is their driveway up, need some good snow tyres to get up there.

Well what is the magic of Christmas? To a child it is nativity plays at school, visiting Father Christmas, the putting up of the decorations and getting loads of presents on Christmas Day. In your seventies it is pleasing your children and their children, then the serious business of getting plenty of good food in, mainly food your diet would not allow you to eat any other time of the year. But any excuse to drink and eat more than normal. Of course we still enjoy the tradition of putting up a tree and outside lights to cheer any visitors up. Plus the decorations in the house that have been handed down or kept since childhood and held together with Selotape or disused fine fishing line (well that’s how mine are kept up). Of course buying a turkey that is for eight to ten people when there is only the two of you (plenty of soups, curries and pies to be made out of this years bird). Of course the few days would be enhanced if you have the right weather, with snow and frost’s.

So this year Christmas was just perfect as we had all of them, especially wonderful was the snow as we sat down to eat our Christmas lunch.

19th.

There is a very clever in built activity within Canon cameras called High Dynamic Range (HDR). On this setting the camera takes three rapid shots, one under exposed, the next over exposed and the third as it is, then within the camera it combines all three and comes up with the near perfect picture. The camera also allows you to see either all three shots individually or just as the finished item. Sometimes the clumsy operator (me) causes movement on the tripod and below are a couple of the images of individual shots and their composed shot, which I found very interesting. I must admit a few of the shots are not through my clumsy use but because the lights were flashing and with a slower speed the camera caused the blur.

The finished shot.

Lighter.

Darker and the one I like best.

Final shot.

The best of the three, longer exposure with fast flashing lights.

My gym lights, finished shot.

The camera was not on the tripod but resting on the felt roof and the wind blew it resulting in this shot.

25th

Had some help on Christmas Day putting the turkey in the oven, unfortunately I was engaged elsewhere and my wife took this shot and it was a case of point and shoot whatever my eyes can see.

26th.

Much to our joy yesterday we did have snow and very cold and the snow came down quiet heavy so we postponed our traditional walk until today, when though the temperature never went higher than minus three C all day, it was a beautiful sunny morning.

As you can see yesterdays snow stayed on the mountain tops but not lower down, enabling the walk to be wet under foot but easy going.

The early morning sun giving a orange tinge to the snow.

On the lower hills opposite our house we often see herds of Red Deer stags and in the past I have included them in my blogs. Our walk today took us on the opposite side of the glen to those hills and on the hills we saw three collections of those deer eating on those slopes. I (of course) had the wrong lens on my camera to get a good close up of them, but on putting them on the computer enlarged them aa bit and counted roughly one hundred and fifty stags across the three groups. below are the shots as I took them, though the shot of the third group was to out of focus to put on here so you will have to take my word that it was there.

So the first shot shows the main herd and the second shows some going over the hilltop, how many had already gone over I don’t know and the third group were to the right of them.

27th

As I am finishing this blog off today we have had strong winds and rain most of the night, which has now turned to snow and warnings that the A9 will be severely affected on the national weather forecast, we are settling down to a day indoors around the log burner or stripping the turkey down to make stock and dishes for the freezer. Mainly hoping the A9 into Perth will be okay tomorrow, when the shopping begins again preparing for the New Year weekend.

Just wishing you all a great 2024 healthy, wealthy and enjoyable.

Much love to all who follow my blog.

I do not know what your thoughts are but Christmas seems to start the end of last month and early into this one, I am not panicking yet but it does make you realise you better start writing those cards that the wife leaves for you to do, admittedly they are only the ones to my friends. Hers /ours were in the post by the first of the month, written in November and all bundled up ready to send off. At our age it is a case of we tend to buy things ourselves, then hand them over for the sender to wrap, with an occasional surprise or a gift we purchased a few months ago and until we open it forgot that we had.

We like to see all the “twinkle” of Christmas hence a few shots below of our two day trip to Edinburgh.

3rd

Our village Christmas Fair took place today and was very well attended with about twenty five stalls selling lots of affordable Christmas gifts. Jewellery, knitting, lamps made on old cameras, typewriters etc., paintings , landscape photographs framed, cakes and bread , jams, all great things that were selling well.

14th/15th

In amongst the Christmas markets in Edinburgh were funfair rides and ice rinks and bars. Firstly I will show you the rides and ask a question.

This ride was on George Street and was basically canvas seats that you were strapped into and though it did not go very high was going extremely fast for about five minutes duration, flinging you by centrifugal force (or is it centripetal?)( an old Fire Service argument) ever further from the vertical.

This and the next shot are in Princess Street Gardens, when on this ride you are being jerked in so many different angles at a speed that I am sure you would not know where you were for the whole ride.

As for this one you are taken EIGHTY Metres in the air and spun round .

So my question is -: Why on earth does any one want to go on these contraptions ? But many did and by the sound of the screams, some of them were thinking the same thing.

This would be more my idea of fun, a giant snow bowl that you could go in and the polystyrene balls on the floor are blown into the air and you get your photo taken from outside.

We were here to see the glitter and the tinsel and inside John Lewis, the Christmas tree displays and tinsel etc. were putting on a show with their artificial trees. A couple more below.

Such “real” looking trees that start at just under £200 (without ornaments) and go up to just under £500. To think the one I have out on our drive was a John Lewis one that I got about eight years ago in a auction in the village hall and it cost me £2, so I am happy.

16th.

This blog is a day late in going out as I was waiting for a dry night to show off our village lights, not over pleased with the shots as it turned out a bit misty and a drizzle of rain, but it will give you a rough idea of what effort is made within the community.

The small park on which once stood a church as you come into the village.

Two of the village green showing the main Christmas tree supplied by the Atholl Estate and the Yew trees that are along the roadside permanently and are fairly old. In the second shot one of them looks like it is on fire, but it just the glow from the lights.

This will be the end of this first half of the month blog, but will try to get out before Christmas and photograph individual households efforts in our hamlet.

But I will take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and will send you a new blog at the start of 2024.

The end of this month is always a nothing period. Nothing but cold or wet weather, nothing much to do indoors or out, nothing going on in the village except table tennis of course, nothing happening here in our hamlet with no holiday makers next door, dark earlier in the late afternoon, so just a blue period when it pays to turn the lights on and stoke the fire. In fact to remove any start of “nothing blues” I just wrap up and walk, so this blog might contain a few shots of walks leading up to the (dreaded word), Christmas month.

15th.

Walked up the road nearest our house and got this view of Blair Castle in the cold and slightly misty distance a mile & a half UP from our house.

Just enjoyed how these bales were left in line in a field, there is a fair slope from left to right and there should be another bale in front of these but it had rolled down the hill over the fence, across the farm road and rested on up against the next fields fence.

The cloud lingering around the hills.

On my way back the mist was drifting into the castle grounds giving it a more ghostly appearance. I know it is a fair distance down to the castle, but can anyone see two guys in a cherry picker? I didn’t until I put it up on the computer.

16th.

When the temperature doesn’t go above three degrees C all day the best thing is to stay in the warmth and that is what I did today. A bit bored as I got the woodburner going well, out came the camera and took some shots of the flames.

23rd

I have now joined a wonderful camera club in New York as I met two lovely women on our last flight home that were members and I liked their Zoom meetings each Monday night. They have a monthly online news letter that requested members to submit a portfolio for the pages, so I thought i would show them around our village, some of the shots I have already put on here so I have just added a few more that might be of interest to you all as well.

Our village hall looks so good, truly Scottish.

The Church of Scotland Church looking Easterly.

Kilmaveonaig Church in the late afternoon sun is also in the village on the Bridge of Tilt side, was first built in 1591 and the interior was altered by the Victorians in 1858.

The small graveyard is of interest as well and is so peaceful backing onto the woods.

Inside the church is also small but well laid out and has a large wood burner stove for these Winter Sundays.

1st December.

Been taking a few bird shots being very lazy through the double glazing of the dining area windows, it has been to cold to sit outside and take them. The glazing does take the sharpness off of the shots but I still enjoy them.

The first shot of the Goldfinches is not proving that my windows are dirty, it was snowing at the time. The second shot seems the male is saying ” Is he really taking a picture of me, how dare he”.

A male Chaffinch.

Female Siskin.

Great Tit.

With all that is going on in the world it seems wrong to do a blog of enjoyment for so many as the Enchanted Forest gives people, but I feel life should bring joy from things or this world would be horrible for all of us. Never the less I pray for peace as we come towards the wonderful festive time that is Christmas.

I have not been as active on the photography side of my life as I have had a fair bit going on, but what I have produced in this first part of the month I hope you enjoy.

1st.

This was the first and best of many attempts to control the brightness of this shot of the inflated octopus that took over the boathouse at Loch Dunmore.

Slinkies hanging from the trees made a great impression.

These suspended plastic strands made people walking through them disappear into ghostly shapes within the first couple of steps in.

The view from across the loch of for what was for me was the best section, the red lava flowing down the hillside, as shown in the next set.

So atmospheric with the smoke and the bright light in the right hand bottom corner is a infrared heater so you get the impression of heat from the lava.

10th.

A great Autumn day so after lunch just walked up the hill and took some shots of the last signs of the season.

The first is just the bunch of twigs on a Birch tree, (not sure what these are called).

Second my favourite small tree in the glen, just shows to what height the deer eat it to.

lastly as usual the mighty Oak is the last to lose it’s leaves.

14th

Dead pheasant in the field in front of the house so I had to move it to a position I could see it from our house. Pouring with rain and all shots taken through the double glazing. If I tried to take them from outside none of the birds would have been there. All of the birds came within five minutes of me putting it out.

In actual fact the magpie were there before the Buzzard, but once it was there they never got a look in.

Second Buzzard arrived and knew it wouldn’t get much chance and left after one warning from the bird eating.

I could see the Magpie getting more frustrated with each mouthful of plump breast the Buzzard ate.

Something frightened all the birds off and the sheep came to have a sniff to see what all the fuss was about.

The local fishing club stops fishing at the end of this month and if my old back allows me I intended to fish the allowed once per week for the next two and a bit weeks. Today we woke up to find a heavy frost and overnight temperature down to minus two and a half C, meaning that the fish will be just sitting on the bottom of the lochan not wanting to move or eat, so I have just got to hope that the temperature does not stay this low for long, or I might have fished our club waters for the last time this season.

16th.

I guess I should clear my garage and start putting the car away to stop my windscreen looking like this.

I guess the high voltage cable is a bit warmer that sitting in the trees for the Pidgeon and Collar Doves.

20th.

Well we have survived (so far) Storm Babet though my afternoon table tennis session yesterday was a no no for me as the A9 was blocked with a tree down over both carriageways so I had to turn back. When I was stopping cars from going up the slipway a half inch diameter twig came through the car window and struck my arm that was when I knew I should not have ventured out. What it has done is to encourage birds into our garden and eat more than normal including flocks of Redwings, though as you will see below they are hiding from my lens with the exception of the one I captured through the double glazing on the conifers.

Even the Wren was sheltering from the wind.

The hawthorn tree is where the Redwings are eating but when the Sparrowhawk comes a calling every bird in the garden goes into the thicket of the tree as shown in the three shots above. In fact in the dense conifer below the birds was where the Sparrowhawk was perched, fully frustrated that there would be know way he could capture any of these birds. Knowing this he did not move until the Red Squirrel came crashing through the conifer and he was off.

23rd.

Started this blog with the heading “getting colder”, overnight we dropped to minus five C and I took the shots below at minus three at ten this morning when it was still minus three. Love the effect it has on these frosty shots.

30th.

Walked down to the village today along the River Tilt, a beautiful in the sunshine and not to cold, the colours were unbelievable.

Those of you who watched the recent series called Annika, about a police officer in the water section, may remember a murder by a sluice gate on a river. That sluice gate is a third of the way in this shot in the middle, lots of the filming was around the village.

The river from off the road bridge.

This image suits my sense of humour, Not Mush-room for the Oak sapling to grow here.

31st

I started this blog showing how cold it was, well overnight on the last day of this blog it went even colder overnight temperature of minus six C . Still haven’t put the car away yet.

A couple more shots from this morning.

November tomorrow, going to Enchanted Forest tonight so the new blog will have shots from that, if they turn out better than the first lot I took at the beginning of the month on press night.

I know on this particular blog each year I have loads of Enchanted Forest shots for you, well this year I had had no insight into what the show would be like as I hadn’t been in on much of the build as my work was done pre build. So came to press night with totally the wrong photographic equipment, entirely my fault and will have to join the thousands of people on a normal night instead of the mid hundreds on press night to get my shots. I know all you with modern phones will be saying “I can get brilliant shots with my three lens phone”, but I like getting photos with my camera even if half of them are not anywhere as good as yours. So “hopefully” on my next visit I will get things right and will put some on the blog. Unfortunately the people who purchased tickets for the first weekend were disappointed as the show had to be cancelled due to the terrible forty eight hour deluge of rain that we had. I have some shots to show you of the havoc it caused throughout Scotland including our county.

10th

Some shots of our watering hole The Mill. From this first one it looks so calm .

If the sluice gate was open this small amount on a normal day no water would run down the mill race on the left, let alone over the side of the lade as you can see on the right.

This is the lade leading to the sluice up at least by a foot and flowing fast. This at least enabled the miller to grind some wheat for the bread and he took full advantage by getting in a full supply to keep them going.

This was the River Tilt on the same day and though this was a good eight hours below its highest level it is still one of the highest I have seen.

Looking down from the the road bridge the buttresses were doing their job but the back current was something else.

I hope this portrays the power of the water, plus the fact the roar was deafening .

9th.

Went to Perth today and over that green bank on the right of the shot is the RiverTay. The flooding here is normally well controlled by huge metal flood gates which are placed in strategic places along the river to prevent the city being flooded. At present with all the warning that the Met Office gave out the council is being blamed for not shutting the gates early enough. this is the football and rugby pitches in the North Inch park and in this and the following shot you can see in the background more water being pumped into this “lake” by the Fire Service due to the fact it flooded the road and houses over that far side hundreds of yards from the river.

A mile or so from the city the river becomes tidal and most of the devastation was caused when the river was at high tide so all the freshwater was held back by the tide. to think the river water from our small River Fender goes into the Tilt, followed by the Garry onto the Tummel and into The Tay coming from Loch Tay and beyond, a fair few gallons of water causing this destruction.

11th.

Some shots from within our garden of the Autumn colours coming through. This is the Azalea’s showing off their rich coloured leaves.

Would not be me if I didn’t show you the annual shot of the Maple.

By the pond.

Heuchera looking splendid in it’s creamy colours.

Plenty of Rowan berries for the birds this winter, is this a sign of a bad Winter? Some say yes.

Rowan leaf about to drop.

Heathers are looking good throughout the garden.

More berries, I hope these will attract the Fieldfare and Redwings.

View down to the Maple, though with the strong wind we have today most of the Silver Birch leaves have blown off it is still very colourful.

15th.

Yes we are just into Autumn and yes it is only mid October, but we had our first sprinkle of snow today. The first shot is the higher Munro’s up the glen that had a bit more than the one in the second shot that we can see from the house, which only had an icing sugar dusting.

Shots North and South from the Garry Bridge, wires on the North shot show the zip wires that were in use today, see below.

I have now received my new (secondhand) replacement gear for that that was stolen, identical camera Canon 7d Mk2, 10-18 lens and my favourite a nifty fifty, both such versatile lens that I am so comfortable with using. I have not had much time to go out with it but as soon as it arrived I went out to try it all out and that is the sole content for this second half of September.

Hydrangea in the late afternoon sun.

Every year these give such a great late show.

Second flowering on the Lupin.

Love taking shots of Lichen.

The time of the year for Heathers in Scotland.

Perhaps my favourite a shady Fern.

I promise more for October especially as Enchanted Forest is on.