Cairngorms Life

We are into May and not only do some of the best people have birthdays this month but it is hopefully the turning point for the weather. Hence the saying “don’t cast a clout until may is out”. Now the clout bit is meant to represent your coat and the next bit has two meanings that I am aware of, one do not take your coat off until the month of May is over, or do not take your coat off until the shrub May is in blossom. May the plant is just coming out up here and sure enough we have at last started having warmer nights, hence warmer days, so that could be the correct answer. But then the weather forecast for the weekend says Northern Scotland could well have a frost at the weekend and we could go down to 4C so not far off. I have in the time we have been up here, had snow near the end of May so equally we could still need our coats later in the month. You choose.

5th.

Nothing better than seeing the beauty in a common bird like the Thrush, all smartened up ready for the breeding season attracting a mate, though it may well have one by now as they are early breeders.

7th.

Went up to Sarah’s Loch today fishing for wild Brown Trout.. The lochan more than a loch as it is very small, is the opposite side of the valley from us and is way up in the hills, a good heart and muscle work out to get to it, but so worthwhile to make the effort. The majority of the fish are small with the occasional half pound 12″ fish coming out, but oh such fun to fish, I love to fish a dry fly which is a fly that sits in the surface film of the water and looks like an insect emerging or landing on the water. To see a fish rise up and take your fly in a flash, Visible in such clear water is a wonderful site, all fish are returned and fighting fit.

The first shot above is looking down on the Rainbow Trout stocked water of Blair Walker which I also fish.

Second shot was when I was down level with Blair Walker of one of a pair of young swans that have called the water theirs.

Lastly is a shot of our house taken from very near Sarah’s on my way down, so good to see the green trees all coming out.

10th.

Had a couple of days away in Edinburgh , one day of rain but the second day (10th) contained a bit more sunshine, so walked through Princess Street gardens on the way to coffee. was surprised at how many statues there was within the gardens, mostly related to the second world war. Below are some of the shots I took of them.

The kilted gentleman is for the British living in America who came back to “the call” to fight. The bear is the Polish army who had a bear as a mascot (tame I think). The lion is not a memorial but is on the newel posts holding the rails on a flight of steps. The woven one was in the churchyard at the Western end of Princess Street, would have proffered the adults mouth to be closed as it reminds me of the painting of The Scream.

Our garden is at present full of colour, apart from the Bluebells and the Forget Me Nots, the most prominent colour is yellow as you can see below.

Icelandic Poppies.

Dandelion.

Azalea just out.

Inside of a Tulip, complete with insect.

15thy.

Before I publish this half of the month, a little quiz for you to take part in. What plant is producing these shoots? I will give you the answer at the end of the month, comment ifg you want.

Well second half of the month and we start of with Easter weekend, couldn’t bring you an Easter Bunny, but have managed on the first day to grab a couple of shots of Hares, next best thing I suppose.

16th.

Looks like a lone Hare in the field in front of the house, but look a bit closer, see it now?

If you didn’t see it , here is the other one taken from a different angle , just hunkered down, so well camouflaged.

17th

One thing I always do on Easter Sunday is get up before sunrise, go up in the hills and spend some time with The Lord giving praise for Him rising from the dead to save us. Other years the sun has been clear of cloud and I am able to capture it rising, not this year the cloud never lifted, as you can see from the first image.

The next to shots are of Loch Moraig, which is a cracking little Loch , full of hard fighting (plus hard to catch) Brown Trout, which I hope to fish at least once this season. The wildlife up on these moors takes some beating, I had a Curlew buzzing around me all the time I was there, saw three Roe Deer , two Hares, Lapwing bombing a Buzzard that had come to close. Heard the Black Grouse on a Lec and captured this wee Meadow Pipit on the fence. Note to me “must get up early and get to the lec before they do”.

The Hare is one of the two in our field but was a lot closer so had to get another shot of it.

Happy Easter day to you all, by the time you read this it will all be forgotten, eggs eaten and diet started.

18TH.

I have three artificial nest boxes up for the House martins to nest in, but since we introduced House Sparrows to our garden the Martins have not stood a chance the Sparrows always beat them to the nest. As you can see by the first two shots they are not exactly tidy nest builders and the third has only just been taken over so looks tidy at present. The first two are okay where they are biut rather stupid of me that third nest is right over our front door and the birds are roosting in it at night and the door step can get a bit messy.

21st.

The pump on my pond has not been producing much flow of late so as it was a good sunny day decided to investigate, only to find the one inch pipe going to the filter system had a leak. On pulling the pump out discovered that the tubing was completly rotten and just broke as I lifted it out. As the water and debris in the bottom of the pond had not been changed for sometime I thought I might as well carry on and drain it down, as can be seen in the second shot. Next shot shows the fish, I have seen the eight fish I had been given for my birthday back in May last year, but was surprised to see the other two Goldfish that I think must have bred in there last summer, which was good. The large grey shape going from the centre out to about one o’clock is the female Tench I have, also there is a male in the pond somewhere, but as I leave about a foot of the original water in the pond I think it is buried down there somewhere.

Next shot was a real surprise as well fifteen Common Newts in the pond, we often find a couple when draining down but to have this many was great .

Last shot is of the pond refilled complete with plastic Gooseander and duckling.

22nd

As promised last blog the Trillion out in bloom, you can see how it gets it’s name, three leaves, three petals and then a further three above that, though the balance is ruined by having four flowers, maybe I will be bold enough to split them and start another group to build a collection.

23rd.

Though the nights are still hovering around zero C the days are sunny and warm, today most probably the warmest and the Spring flowers are at their best. First shot is the first Bluebell out in the garden though the expert gardener that I am married to reckons they have taken over to much and will be thinned out this year. The other two shots are of the Pom Pom Primulas that are at their very best at present, the area that these are in are my old veg garden as to be honest I struggled to grow potatoes let alone any other exotic veg.

30th.

Started of with Easter in this blog and that seems so far away as we end this month, probably the driest April we have had for a long time, but the rain has finally come today. A bit of a surprise at the end , on the twenty second I showed you a shot of the Trillion flowers in the garden and even commented on the fact it was ruined by the four flowers amongst the symmetry of threes. Well look what has happened in that short space of time, the plant has produced another flower.

One of these years I will think of an April Fool section to start the month off, but promise you I as a person have not got one for this year, but nature has. Below you will see a selection of the beautiful Spring flowers we have in the garden at the moment, but the forecast is for us to get a good dumping of snow before the week is out, just when you thought of warm sunny days leading up to Summer, nature laughs at you. I think the birds may suffer also, with most of them in their breeding plumage, Blackbirds and House Sparrows building nests, frogs have spawn on our pond, totally unaware of the coming weather. Must add as you can see below the Sparrowhawk is becoming a frequent visitor to our garden and he and she seem to find a remote spot to pluck the bird before flying off with their catch, as much as I would love to get a shot of the bird on this stump, it is so well hidden that I do not think I would have any chance.

4th

5th.

Our Pom-Pom Primula’s are producing a lot of flowers.

So are the normal ones.

The heathers are alive with the sound of Honey and Bumble Bees.

Daffodils of all sizes and colours.

Mini Tulips add a good variety of colour to the garden (note to self, get some more of these next year).

This little bulb grows everywhere in the garden and has the common name of Glory in the Snow, which may be appropiate later this week. A darker blue version very like this light blue one also grows in the garden but goes by a different name, Scilla.

Lastly one of my favourites in the garden (not because I purchased it, honest) is my Trillion, started off four years ago with just one bloom and added one every year so now four lovely deep red blooms are budding up. Three leaves & three petals, great little plant.

To add to the above flowers, my neighbour has been having trouble with Moles and we are Mole free (at the moment), so they thought we might like a couple on our own.

7th.

In amongst the many Chaffinches we get in the garden we occasionally get the odd Brambling and the above is one of those an unusual looking bird very much like a Chaffinch, but with slightly different markings.

1 0th.

Most probably part of the four I showed you last month but these two were wondering through the field , seemingly paired up now, on what was a cold a frosty start to the day.

15th

Here this morning was the male Roe Deer just laying out in the field after what must have been a hard night as I have never seen one lay this close to the house.

My usual game of hide and seek with the squirrel Not sure if it is thinking “well he cannot see me here” or, ” it is him with the ****** camera again”.

A sure sign Summer is on it’s way when the Geese start flying home after wintering with us.

We are getting very close to the full Moon and my theory is coming together again. The sky becomes clear at night and the temperature on a full moon plummets, especially over the Winter/Spring months and this month is no exception, the last two nights have gone down to minus seven and minus three, but the beauty is the lovely daytime in between. A good start to getting out for walks in bit warmer conditions and a bit of sun on your back, definitely makes for a happier me. If this weather keeps up I may just believe that Summer is just around the corner.

17th.

A busy day photography wise, I always take my camera with me when we go for a walk and the sunlight on the underside of the Buzzard was wonderful. Then seeing the local farmer having just fed his sheep heading back across the fields , most probably heading for a cuppa after another completed daily task.

Then around dusk my wife alerted me to a sight we have not seen in the field in front of the house before. Normally we would get a maximum of three Roe Deer coming into feed, but tonight we had five. Of course one of the three bucks headed in a different direction to the others ( must have been camera shy ), but I did manage to get four together and lots of single shots, so below are a few of those.

The bucks in the last shot (furthest left and nearest the camera watching me ) have just started on their horns and in this stage are known as “in velvet” as the horns have a velvet finish on them.

18th

The weather is wonderful, heavy frost’s overnight and glorious sunshine all day. This of course has got the Spring flowers going , though the seed heads are still about from last year.

19th.

All the early flowering HJeathers are out and by about midday when it has warmed up, so are the Honey Bees, not very clear, but at least one in the centre of the shot.

22nd

Went down to Loch Dunmore to check on the 390 Tench we have stocked with yesterday, all between 6 and 8 inches, travelled up from a fish farm in Shropshire and not a dead fish in sight, a great addition to our stock.

While I was there I was surprised to see these nine Tufted Ducks, we often get a pair, but never seen this many before. Plus of course our resident male Mallard, showing off his reflection.

A busy day, as it was so beautiful in the sunshine we went for a walk up the glen in the afternoon and managed to catch a shot of two of the four Wagtails hopping along the stone wall, plus a pair of Geese waddling around the field.

26th.

I am sorry but this sunshine is to good to miss and I have gone a bit mad with the camera today. Spring is well and truly sprung with all the wonderful colours of the flowers, just love this time of year. The first butterfly in the garden, the goldfish coming up to the surface of the pond instead of sulking all winter in the depths. A very grumpy looking Toad that hated being on the concrete so I moved it to nearer the pond and it still didn’t have much of a smile. Lastly the squirrel saying ” I do wish the leaves would come on this tree then he would not see me to photograph me”.

27th.

The price we have to pay for all these glorious days is clear skies at night also, clear skies at night means at this time of the year, cold nights and in the last eight days we have gone below zero centigrade every single night. Last night was no exception when we went down to minus three and the resulting frost on the grass. I put the above picture on to show the warmth in the sun doing it’s bit to make it another great day, where the sun is on the turf no frost, the shadow from the house stops the sun getting to the rest of the lawn hence the white stuff still there. I know what you are all thinking, “that’s a lawn?” yes it will be once it starts growing and the roughness is due to the wives hard work in raking out the moss, which in Scotland is no mean feat.

Sorry it has been a fabulous day and we had some wonderful sights on our walk after lunch, so loads more shots for you to see.

Just to show what a beautiful day, look at that sky not a cloud in sight. These two paragliders were well over a thousand feet above us, soaring like a hawk on a wonderful journey.

As you can see not much snow left on the Munro, but we are expecting another load later in the week, so this picture could well change.

This doe Roe Deer spotted us way before I spotted it, finding a bit of shade.

Finally on our walk is this pond that has the most wonderful clear water and small Brown Trout in it, But today none of that mattered as the frogs were spawning in their hundreds and yes I do mean hundreds, the noise was incredible and to be honest I must have taken thirty shots , but will only bore you with these three.

31st

Today our youngest son moved from Sheffield six and a half hours journey from us to East Ayrshire, just two and a half hours from us (well pleased). So we went over for the day to help them construct flat pack furniture and establish the kitchen (food has got to be a priority right?). This is the view from their bedroom, a bit different from inner city Sheffield and nearly as good as our view, all facing South. Our moving in present to them was two bird feeders, seed and peanuts, within a couple of hours they had about thirty Goldfinch down on to the feeders, along with Sparrows a Redpoll and Siskins, a real cheery site for us all to see. Did you know one of the names for a flock of Goldfinches is a Charm, well it certainly was a charming site.

At last the weather seems to be getting a wee bit warmer, Snowdrops, Crocus are doing ewell though two days of constant rain has battered a few of the Crocus down and definitely filled our spate waters. Of course I realise up here that the snow can return as late as the back end of April, but you can but hope that the worse is over. At least getting out and about a bit more on decent days as this part of the months blog will show.

1st

A walk up to the trout water of Blair Walker to see what wild life was about just these Swans and Geese.

Not forgetting a couple of Oyster Catchers digging into the soft mud.

2nd.

Went into Perth to try and capture my elusive bird the Kingfisher, two hours with a few dashing sightings, but no photos, so took the heather gardens in the park instead, so that it was not a completly wasted journey.

3rd

As by now you must be aware we get terrific sunsets and with the fairly decent weather we have had the last few days I have had plenty to choose from, but I think this is most probably the best.

6th

While the good weather lasted we went for a trip out to St Andrews for the day, most of the following shots are of the derelict cathedral which in times past you could walk around, but it has been inspected and today it is considered to dangerous to do so. so a few skyline shots over the high wire fence.

Even though the water this time of the year must be freezing, some young women still went in for a dip.

Liked this shot with the Angus Hills covered in snow right in the distance.

15th.

Had some miserable weather in between the last few shots and this one, so did not venture out with the camera much. The last shots show a Goosander on Loch Dunmore took a few shots of them the first successful the last of it diving, not so successful. I have now got to spend a couple of days going down a bursting a few paper bags to disperse the gang of them (four males three females) as they are eating a lot of our fish and with a new batch coming in to stock the loch in April costing a couple of thousand pound we do not want them all eaten by these guys.

18th.

As I write this we are in the middle of Storm Eunice, which this morning dominated the news, with all down South preparing for the end of the world, where for us it is a strong Northerly wind with a fair bit of snow attached. Went out to clear a path down the drive and the snow was sitting about 4″ deep, but easy snow to clear and now about 2 hours later it is starting to thaw a bit, so no real panic for us. From the warmth of our living room I managed to capture these two through the double glazing and of course the always clean windows helped.

As you can see the Pigeon was ruffled up a bit out of the cold and facing away from the wind, but it was definetly waiting for me to go out and feed it.

A bit blurred through the glass but this Red didn’t mind being out in it. Though they do not hibernate like Greys, more often than not on days like this they normally stay in the dray and it is rare for us to see them out in such conditions. It didn’t stay long ate a few peanuts and was gone, after all we all have to grab some breakfast whatever the conditions.

19th.

The snow on the hills looks spectacular enough under normal conditions, but with the sunrise it turns the snow this amazing shade of pink and pulling open the bedroom curtains certainly does start you day off wonderfully.

As an added bonus to the previous shot the sun shining on the hills and the near full moon just setting.

27th.

We had just as much snow on the hills as in the previous two shots just 3 days ago , butn rain and a temperature of 7C has got rid of all the low lying “stuff” and now just a dusting on the hills.

Went for a walk in the sunshine up in the hamlet of Struan and by the River Garry this shot doesn’t look much but for this section of the Garry it is high due to the snow melt.

This shows the snow melt spate a bit better, it seems incredible to think that in six months time the Salmon will be climbing these falls and weir so they can spawn, that is if there are any left in our rivers?

Just a little history lesson on my past life . 52 years ago the person with the spade in his hand in the picture below was in fact me . I was part of a group of fire fighters (fireman in those days) who went to a remote farm in Hertfordshire looking for the body of a Mrs Murial Mckay, who was the wife of the then News of the World editor. She had gone missing , believed kidnapped and all clues pointed to the fact that she had been murdered and buried somewhere on this farm, which had several ponds in the grounds. We were tasked with draining the ponds . Okay so that is history, but I have just read that the person who spent 20 years in jail moved back to the West Indies and wanted to put things right before he died, has informed the authorities of the exact place she is buried on that farm and her daughter (now 81) has asked the present owner of the farm for permission for her to have a private search carried out in that area and the land owner has refused, so she is going through the courts to get permission. Though Met Police are now looking into the case. So some modern day “firefighters” may have to carry out the task we did 52 years ago.

How fast did January go? Seeing the first glimpses of Spring with the Snowdrops at last showing their sturdiness with inches of snow on them then gale force winds and you look at them standing proud through whatever the weather want’s to throw at them. Also it is noticeable that the mornings are getting lighter (well apart from when the dark clouds roll in) I only notice because as I get up I go to the kitchen, put the kettle on and then feed the Blackbirds their sultanas, a few weeks ago there would be no sign of birds queueing for them, but this week two or three are sitting waiting to pounce. Not the early bird catches the worm here, it is the early bird eats all the sultanas.

8th.

Went across to Killin hoping to see Ben Lawers covered in snow and grab a few shots for the blog, firstly at Kenmore it was raining and couldn’t even see Lawers, then along Loch Tayside there was hardly any snow on the tops.

This shot is from the graveyard in Killin and as you can see the distant hills have hardly any snow on them.

Stopped off in Aberfeldy on the way home. The first shot is of General Wades bridge over the River Tay, some of you oldies may remember that this bridge featured on a series of postage stamps way back all on bridges. Wades roads and bridges are all over Scotland he was in charge during the Jacobite rebellion in 1720/30 and his handywork can still be seen throughout the Highlands including a bridge in Blair Atholl when he built the Dunkeld to Inverness road.

The second shot is of the Black Watch Memorial to celebrate the formation of the regiment in 1740, it was erected in 1887 and cost the huge sum of £500 (donated by the public) to build and was split in two in 1910 by lightening, repaired it now has that ugly lightening strip down the front to prevent that from happening again. (why didn’t they they put the strip down the back of the statue?)

Another interesting fact the soldier on the top was in fact one of three shot in London for desertion in 1743. An unusual person to put on the top, but he was a hero who had left London to return to Scotland after hearing a rumour that the British Army were sending them to America to get the troublesome Scots out of the way. In fact that was a false rumour they were in fact going to Flaunders.

11th.

Overnight we went down to minus eight Centigrade and when I fed the birds at half nine it was still cold at minus five. In these conditions and with a strong North Westerly wind you really do not want to be out in it to much. So being the softie I am I set the camera up on the tripod in the kitchen and decided to see how many different birds I could get a photo of in ten minutes, below is the said shots though I did miss a few that came to the feeders because either I was to slow focusing in or they were to quick for me. These included the Nuthatch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a Dunnock.

Male and Female Blackbirds.

Coal and Blue Tits.

Male House Sparrow.

For once a shy Robin (they normally pose for me)

Female Chaffinch.

Siskin.

Greenfinch. Though I did see and photograph male Chaffinch and Great Tit the shots were just to out of focus to put up.

12th.

As stated above the temperature dropped very low in the early hours of yesterday and the wonderful Snowdrops in the garden seem to get really affected, but to show just what a hardy plant they are I have attached two shots , one of a bunch yesterday morning and then another shot of them this morning ( I left the piece of straw in deliberately to show it was the same bunch) , as they have perked right up in the warmer temperature.

Cannot beat that for determination to show us their best, love them.

Went for a walk around the perimeter of Blair Castle (not yet open) mainly to see their Snowdrops around the old Kirk (church) was the usual collection, Makes the old graves look so much better with them surrounded by the whiteness.

Now a view of the Castle with nobody visiting and through the trees.

Lastly a sign of Spring, I think this is a Green Hellebore which grows well in the woodlands adjacent to the path leading away from the Castle, another positive sign of Spring.

Where did this month go? I think the mostly mild weather has helped us get through January fairly quickly, not sitting looking at the snow piling up has been a real bonus, no doubt we shall get an absolute blizzard in February now I have said that. I never thought last year to help me with my challenge I could have taken some shots in black and white, though a recent article I read encouraged me to give it a try, so you will see my attempts below, let me know what you think?

Thought the first one (which I took on a dull day) leant itself to a mono shot and as Silver Birch is more or less B &W that was okay. The third if I took it in colour I do not think would have looked much different and the fourth showed the lichen up well, but that is my opinion, not yours.

I then took two sets to make a comparison and not sure with both sets which comes out the better, I did not alter in post- processing just took two separate shots at roughly the same angle.

Again I will leave it up to you decide, I know which I prefere.

First shot from the approach to the first of two bridges and the second from to the laft of the bridge, at the same level as the bridge. So lucky I had the area to myself for about thirty minutes before other people arrived.

That is us settled in back home in Perthshire after the hustle and bustle of New York, though I must admit though some tourist area are busy out there, a lot were very quiet compared to in the past visits. But of course we are in our little hamlet a peaceful paradise.

Not much to show you since we have been back, mainly down to three things the cold weather, jet lag and the fact that we have both got a real horrid cold. Thought like most people that it may have been covid but several tests later, luckily no sign of it. Unfortunatly that has meant lethargic attitude and staying near to the log burner. I have managed a few shots with the camera , so I will share them with you.

This was the weather on our return ( missed the deep snow in New York by two days I am glad to say) , not a great deal of snow, enough to have to clear the driveway off but manageable .

Yesterday the sun came out and though cold overnight, it was very pleasant to go out for a stroll in the low lying sun. In the field up the hill from us are five Aberdeen Angus bulls all of which we have seen grow from calves up to this lovely beast. It is such a pity that these five just munch away at the grass and cannot appreciate how fortunate they are to live in a field with such a cracking view.

Before photography virtually took over my life I would have walked past these dead seed heads and not taken any notice of the beauty that was within them, especially with bright sun shining down on them. Photography has allowed me to enjoy natures beauty that even in the depth of winter is all around us.

Another fine example of that beauty, just a single leaf left attached to this branch with the bud of this coming years growth just above it, with a shine as though it had been varnished.

Sorry not much to show you at the start of the year but I promise I will try harder as the year goes on.

Just thought I would end our New York trip with the shots I took on the 3 days we had left which was January.

The Flat Iron building covered in scaffolding so not as you would normally see it with that sharp pointed edge.

A real still working paddle steamer docked on the Hudson River.

Looking downtown with the World Trade Centre dominating the skyline.

The impressive archway entering the Washington Square Gardens.

Through the window of our sons 3rd floor window an American Robin ( I think) eating the Oak Apples.

My last meal out had to be a Hamburger and Fries and very tasty it was.

Just some of the paperwork we had to have for our return trip home.

A wonderful three weeks of being spoilt rotten, eating way to much and seeing a incredible city once more.