Cairngorms Life

There are definite signs that Autumn is upon us, I have already shown you some of the mushrooms that are starting to appear, I am sure I will be adding to them over the last section of this month, especially when I go up to the woods hunting Chanterelles, one of my favourite to eat. Other signs include the changing colour of leaves on the trees and the fact that the wife has already started to sweep the Silver Birch leaves of the paths. So though a colourful time (and I hope to capture plenty of that) it is a sign that the dreaded cold weather and Winter is on it’s way.

16th.

In the first half of this month I showed you a tight little phallic like mushroom, well it has bloomed into this beauty in the first shot, fairly large with about a 3″ diameter, unbelievable to have grown that quick.

The second fungus goes by the elaborate name of Clavulinopsis Luteo-alba (I only know that because I looked it up) and is found growing in lawns and turf, this particular clump is growing on our washing greenand I had to clear some of the grass away so you could get a better view of this tiny plant, about 1″ high.

17th.

I said I hoped this month ending would be full of colour and this plant is a good way of starting that colour. Not sure of the name but we have had it beside the pond for years and though the leaves when green are okay, it is this time of the year that it really shows off. Fairly waxy and that gives it the shine to really make it stand out.

18th.

It is a sure sign of Autumn when you get mornings like today, sun breaking through and burning of the mist from last nights rain and a overnight temperature of just 5C. But what it does do is show off the beauty of our surrounding countryside, these to shots taken out of the bedroom window when I opened the curtains.

The first shot is over Blair Walker pond/lochan where I go fishing, the second is of a small wood that in the past was used to pen the young pheasants in. The shoots seem to have virtually stopped these days, presumably because there is not much money in it . Before there was a large enclosed wire pen that held the young pheasants in and once released feeders all around the wood to keep them there. Once the shooting stopped the mature trees were removed and the Birch just left to grow on. We do see an occasional Roe Deer coming and going but that is it until they put sheep in, who love exploring the woods.

19th.

Further up Glen Tilt in amongst the woods is a rifle range, used by clubs all over Scotland because of it’s unique set up. It is in fact the longest civilian range in the world. In the shot (no pun intended) on the middle right you can see the line of white roundels that are the targets. If you follow that central line back and if you look closely you will see white poles sticking up, these are the distance markers going back to the first one, which I think is half a mile from the targets. As you can see we have a misty damp day here today but it certainly adds to the atmosphere of the photo.

A bonus few shots for today, this time of the year I visit my favourite Birch wood to hunt for what has to be one of the tastiest mushrooms going, they are Chanterelles. The first shot is the wood, the second is the mushrooms in situ and lastly in the kitchen the results of my hunt all ready to be brushed off clean and into the pan for dinner.

20th.

Way back in June I gave you a picture of a female Hybrid Wildcat that looked pregnant, though we do not see her very often we now have a different one present in our garden and we think it may well be the kitten from our grown up. The reason we think this is because it has less stripes on the tail, a lot smaller and becoming very brave to be in the garden during daylight . The main reason for this is that we put some food out for it most nights and it is coming into the garden before the mature cat to get the food first.

The photo above I took today just after 2 pm. in what we now think is where it is lying up during then day under a bush amongst some dead tree stump. This allowed me to creep out with my camera and get this shot of it watching me intently. I am afraid I had to frighten it off as we are concerned about the safety of the garden birds that feed a few yards away from this spot. But what a face.

21st.

Great satisfaction as we now have a new set of gates, the old ones were on their last legs , warped and old as they were the original gates to the house when built. The previous set were equal in size which made it a bit tight for some vehicles (or drivers) to get in without opening both gates, now with the longer side on the drive side of the entrance it will be a lot easier to swing in. and more obvious for pedestrian visitors to enter via the small gate.. Bespoke made by a local craftsman and we are so pleased with them.

22nd.

I headed this blog by saying Autumn is coming, well today is the Autumn Equinox so it is no longer coming, it is here. Though it is the Equinox, apparently the days and nights are not equal for another three days so can we say we have a few days left of summer?

Looking at our Sweet Pea wigwam I think we can say summer has finished, the near gale force gusts of wind have blown it over and we have hardly a bloom left. Though I will say it has flowered its socks off for months now and virtually everyday the wife has needed to pick a big bunch of blooms, a very successful spot to place them in, on my home made willow and beech construction. Soon be going on the compost heap and will re-build a new wigwam next year.

23rd.

Here’s a strange one, went to lay some flowers on a friends grave today in the village church and discovered this circle of higher grass in the churchyard. Now I have no idea what would cause this to occur, but I think you can see from the shot it is almost a perfect circle. I have seen in with fungus growing in this shape but never grass? is it caused by underground fungus nourishing the soil, or a deposit of different earth, but then would it come up so circular?

Of course Google gave me the answer, it is in fact the start of a fairy ring of fungus, apparently it is the fungus breaking down the nutrients in the soil causing unusual growth in the grass which will eventually turn the turf brown and die and the mushrooms will break through the surface, Isn’t nature fascinating.

24th.

I am a sucker for looking at cloud formation and this was no exception. When I opened the back door this morning to feed the birds I just looked up and saw this one cloud in a clear blue sky, rushed back to the bedroom, got the camera and took this shot , all before having a drink or anything, just liked the wispyness of it , like candy floss.

25th.

Having stated in yesterdays post that I loved clouds, storm clouds like this have very little appeal to me. If I looked to my left it was lovely sunshine (as can be seen on the tree tops), but looked to the right, and as this shot illustrates it was extremely black and menacing. Underneath that cloud is a Munro mountain so it just shows how low those clouds were. Not nice, especially if you were up that hill at the time.

26th.

A few of days ago on this blog I told you about us having new gates and me being so tight with wood for burning has stripped down one of the old gates , sawn it up and it is in for the next fire we have in our log burner. In know people say we should not burn pine on the fire as it clogs the chimney up with tar but if you get it swept regularly I have not seen much deuteriation in our liner. Apart from that it’s free wood and who doesn’t want to burn free wood and this will keep us warm for a night or two.

27th.

Decided to have a couple of days away, for a change and of course for my beloved to hit the shops of Edinburgh. We like staying in Leith as it is away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre and managed to get a waterside view from our Premier Inn bedroom. Went for a walk at sunset and was able to see the the three main crossings of the Firth of Forth from outside our room. The solid one is the railway crossing, the middle upright is the old road crossing and the double upright is the new bridge, all with a glorious sunset behind them.

28th.

Just as we woke up on day two of our little adventure we pulled back the curtain of our room to witness this small fishing boat on it’s way out for the day, obviously a local as it seemed to be ignoring the route through the navigation buoys. The second shot is of the variety of different boats in this little harbour of Newhaven , fishing and leisure. An enjoyable couple of days away, highlighted (for me anyway) by the quality food we ate in a great tapas Bar in George Street Edinburgh and the fish restaurant in Newhaven.

29th.

Not included in this years shots, but I think way back I showed you these wooden carvings that adorn our local park, showing the various animals that can be seen in the countryside around Blair Atholl. All four of which can either be seen in or around our garden, the only one that does not come in the garden is the Hare , if it did I doubt I would have many plants to show you in the blog. Cannot remember just how long these carvings have been up but the poor old Hare is now missing an ear and the Wildcat has been cut in half where the wood has split, but still a good addition to the park.

30th.

Looks a bit strange I know, but these are the tender plants that are to large to bring in for the Winter, so have to be wrapped in fleece from now on. Why so early I can hear you Southerners say? Well last night our overnight temperature went down to Minus one C , and it might even have been to late in protecting these and other plants we normally bring in until Spring.

Well that is another month done, just one hundred days to Christmas day, which means one hundred and six days to complete my New year resolution of a different shot every day of the year on this blog. See you next month.

Cannot believe that I have managed to get to the last third of the year taking a different shot each day, that means I have got to find another 112 photos to complete the year. Sounds a daunting task, just want America to open up for us to visit our son in New York and I will get a couple of weeks of photos to ease the burden of finding new shots around here.

!st of September.

I thought my supply of Parsley that I have grown from seed looked just like a forest that would adorn any model railway in place of trees . As you can see by the yellow leaves it also looks like it is representing Autumn and I think we are not far off of that season up here. Even though the weather has been superb during the last couple of weeks, the night temperature is really dropping checked the min/max thermometer today and we actually went down to 3C during the night, which is virtually a frost, so no wonder the parsley is turning yellow.

2nd.

3rd.

There is something about seed heads that has always fascinated me, the transformation from attractive flowers like the Lupin into these funny pea like seed heads. Also why the hairy outside? Is it to try and make birds think they are untouchable? I do not know but I am sure if I investigated I would find the reason, even when they dry out and are ready to drop I have never seen birds eating them and for seed eaters why not?

So many questions about nature that I do not know the answer to but my old friend Google might and I am sure somebody would have done a PhD on it.

This is the village manned signal box, like the rest of this countries rail network it is a bit neglected and is in need of a good coat of paint, but at least it it is still functional and not an automatic unmanned box. It is a dull day and I only took the one shot of it, which on reflection was wrong as the idea was to include a lighter shot of the ironwork in the foreground. This in fact are what remains of the old buffers from the sidings that used to be parallel to the main line, at present I am trying to get permission to go a couple of hundred yards back from this shot to where there is still the old railway sheds in fairly good condition but surrounded by shrubs and undergrowth that make it impossible to take a photo of, so watch this space.

4th.

The birds have finished their nesting season, the House martins are even gathering to fly South, therefore it must be time for me to cut the evergreens back. This particular one is very popular with Dunnocks (or Hedge Sparrows is their other name) and each year we find at least one pair nesting in the thickness of it. The sequence of shots show before, half way and completion, with the last one taken in the field looking back at the house, just to show that I do not treat the bit that isn’t seen from the garden any different than from the rest of it.

It takes me just over a morning to complete this task, it used to take me a lot longer as I would just cut it then pick up the cuttings. Now (older and wiser) I place plastic sheeting down to collect most of the cuttings and that means I only have a few cuttings that go a stray for us to pick up. As the Meerkat says “simple”.

I only have one more almost identical bush to go and this side of the job is finished, I then have to transport the cuttings to the council tip in Pitlochry, which for the last 4 or so weeks has been a twice weekly trip as all the summer planting is removed. Must admit the council are brilliant with this side of recycling as they take all garden rubbish to a central place, compost it and then send a skip full of compost back to our tip for all to collect for free. Not with my composting system that I need it, but others do.

5th.

A dull day today but brightened up by the few remaining colours in the garden, a quick walk round and I selected these few.

We still have some flower on the Geraniums , not a great lover of them but they do add some colour, we have two in pots that are not hardy and they will come into the house soon to survive whatever the winter throws at us this year.

Autumn Crocus are a reminder that that season is nearly upon us, they do last a good length of time in the garden so their show is appreciated.

We are never very good at growing Buddleia, but this year our one plant has done us well, though nothing to compare with how well we saw them growing on waste ground on our recent trip to Sheffield.

Finally, our ever faithful late flowering Clematis, for a few years this has given us an excellent show of blooms and this year is no exception.

6th.

On the outskirts of the village the other side of the A9 is this huge quarry, know some people say it is an eyesore I disagree. This quarry employs local workers in an area where it is either the service industry for the visitors (which is mostly seasonal) or agricultural work. There fore a steady place of employment is great. I consider this site an essential industry providing stone for the dualing of the A9 and other projects near and far but also being of use to locals, my front drive is covered in chipping from there. But take a look at how organised and tidy the site looks, the ground to the left has received planning permission to expand and the soil has been neatly cleared from there and I say okay it looks like half the hillside is disappearing, but if it is a needed commodity then let it be in our back yard to benefit our area.

7th.

I last showed a picture of this rhodendrum on the 18th May, but do not panic I am not doing a repeat shot, that particular day I showed a Wasp feeding on it so technically I never wrote or photographed it as a plant. We inherited this plant when we moved in , outside our kitchen door, it has grown considerably since then but we have kept it trimmed back. The reason I took this shot today is because it is on it’s fourth set of flowers and provides blooms from early spring right up until a frost (which I don’t suppose is far off). Though we are not great fans of the species, but when a plant performs like this, in this climate you have to keep it.

8th.

I know what you are thinking “He showed us Autumn Crocus on the 5th, is he not repeating a shot?” Well technically I am showing you them open , not closed like the last shot so that is different, but also (apart from the dirt in two of them) look closely and in the one on the right and the left there are a Bumble Bee in both. We have had a good year for bees, apart from the cold start to the year we have seen and heard more bees than normal this summer. We haven’t increased our bee loving plants by much but the Rattle and Daisies seem to have attracted them in and now when the main flower crops in our garden have gone over the crocus seem to have filled the gap.

9th.

Looked this one up I believe it is Dryad’s Saddle also known as Scaly Polypore. Have two different sites with this in the garden both growing on rotting tree stumps, fairly attractive, hence the nibbles on the larger ones edges (not by me but mice I think.

10th.

Went to the House of Bruar today and after a drink and scone left the wife to wander around while I walked up the Bruar Falls. An outdoor adventure company come here for the thrill seekers and this is one of their jumps into the pools. This first group jumps from the right side while you can see another group making their way along the wet rocks on the left where they just lay back and slide into the water from that smooth rock on the left. Twenty years ago I may have tried it, not so sure now.

11th.

Within our village is this lovely little shop, when we moved here it was a second hand book shop that was very dingy little place as most second hand book shops are. But now it is a unique and beautiful little gift shop with a lovely village lady running and owning it. You are always made welcome even if you do not buy anything and just have a natter, though with so many different types of gifts it is hard to walk out empty handed. It is places like this that make small villages so unique we have lost so many of them though throughout Britain that it is such a shame, in this village we have lost our own bank, kilt shop and a hotel that has been closed for years, but slowly being restored.

12th.

I love this time of the year when you walk around your garden and suddenly you come across in the middle of the small wild flower garden a mushroom has suddenly appeared. Not sure this particular type has ever appeared in this area before but it was a good find to photograph. Looked it up apparently it is Leccinum Roseofractum said to be edible but the book says “not worth eating”, so wont bother trying it. Though by the look of it something has had a nibble, not sure if that is from a mouse or a slug, may put my trail camera on it tonight to see what is eating it.

13th.

So I was busy taking a shot of this late flowering Heather for today’s shot and was totally unaware until I put the shot on the computer that I had managed to capture this Buff Tailed Bumble Bee in amongst the blooms, so well hidden that I honestly did not see it. The Heathers are, within our garden anyway, the last real food source for Bees and we have a few late flowering ones that just fill that gap from the summer flowers into Autumn. When you see gardens like on Gardeners World it has made us aware that next year we must look out for Autumnal plants , not only to make the garden more cheery but also for nectar feeding insects.

14th.

We never have to plant Sunflowers, mainly because I feed them to our wild birds and the Coal Tits have a habit of taking them and burying them all over the garden. This year has been a lean year for random Sunflowers turning up in weird places in the garden, not sure why but normally we would have five or six appear, but this year I have only found a couple and this weedy little thing has suddenly come up amongst some rocks. Maybe that is why it is so small (maybe 2″ across ) or it might be the variety, though thinking about it, it would not pay a farmer to commercial grow such a small plant for harvesting. Maybe it is just “Weed” from the Flower Pot Men.

15th.

I have shown you the small river that runs down to the River Tilt that is below our house (The River Fender), with the hydro scheme and fish rearing plant being fed off of it. But I have never really shown you the beauty of it. The first shot is looking up the pool that one day I will have a wee swim in, when I am brave enough, I often go down to this pool and test new fly fishing equipment on it and have successfully caught a few wild (small) Brown Trout in there, just a real bit of fun.

In the second and third shot is the rock formations that form the far bank the first showing the layered formation of the rock and the third showing the wide variety of plants that grow on and in the fissures of the rock, from moss, ferns and even small Rowan trees.

16th.

What a find to start the new blog off with, a Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar, so unusual a defence mechanism. Making itself look like it is a creature with huge eyes is enough to frighten most birds off of eating it. In fact those eyes are on the rear end of the caterpillar, on the head end you can just see the two antennae with the white tube???? in between. So you can see from the first shot if it was attacked from the side it still has a pair of eyes as it has when it gets a birds attention from the rear, Huge beast it is as well at least three times bigger than your average caterpillar so would make a wonderful meal if it did not have this defence.

17th.

Went to The House of Bruar today for our wedding anniversary lunch and discovered these two horses were the main attraction amongst the hoards visiting this retail complex. I was aware that they were in Pitlochry Sunday and was pleased that I caught up with them at Bruar. These two and their crew started off from Gloucestershire mid June and are travelling all the way to Elgin in the far north of Scotland arriving on the 27th of this month. On the way they are raising money for various charities including the Firefighters Charity, so well done them.

18th.

Atholl Estates have provided this wonderful old building in the village as a visitors information centre, as you can see it is corrugated walls and roof, but is well maintained and very well laid out inside with a large log fire in the middle for warmth to winter visitors. I shall show you inside at a later date as today it had a few holiday makers inside and not really convenient or appropriate for me to interrupt their visit. As you can see a sunny day for once, as this blog states we are off for our first trip out of Scotland for at least two years, so although this site is about the Cairngorms lifestyle we live, to keep up my 365 shots this year you will have to have five days of Sheffield’s finest.

19th.

I started this blog with the heading about going away, well we have been down to our son in Sheffield, though not strictly not within the remit of Cairngorms Life but is within the remit of keeping my different photograph each day.

Sheffield is a wonderful city surrounded by countryside and hills and very beautiful place to live. The above shot shows that the difference between our normal view from our bedroom and the one we have here. What you can see from the shot is the distant hills and greenery all around, it has some wonderful parks wildlife has thrived and continues to expand, despite the council wanting to cut down trees.

20th.

Today we went to Canon Hall Farm, that is the one that has been on the television (Channel 5) with the two brothers. Such a professional set up, my son had booked the tickets as they are limiting visitors at present, even so there were hundreds there. The beauty of this set up is that it did not feel at all crowded and was just a real pleasure to go round. Though the above are obviously not normal farm animals they were a huge attraction and such fun to watch. under cover were the goats and pig breeding units with excellent viewing platforms to see all that was going on. Food wise we had a snack lunch and again excellent service and food. What I am saying if you are young or old and in the Barnsley area it is worth a visit.

21st.

The above are part of todays visit to Creswell Crag on the Nottingham/Derbyshire border, these are magnesium limestone rocks that surround this lovely piece of water with a few large Carp in it. The caves that are in these rocks are the oldest known caves containing art drawings of Bison and horses, some 20,000 years old. We didn’t go in any of the caves, but we did see loads of wildlife including Spotted Flycatcher , Warblers (don’t ask me which ones) were catching flies off the water, Wrens and some cracking butterflies. Once again a snack lunch there and it was just what we needed after the walk round.

22nd

Today’s visit was to where our sons partner works and once again shows what beauty Sheffield has to offer, this is Sheffield Manor Lodge . The first shot is the Turret House, the home back in the day of Bess of Hardwick the person who looked after Mary, Queen of Scots when she was imprisoned there. A well kept house which has artefacts of the period and volunteers dress up in period costumes and will guide you round. All around the remaining ruins are flower beds and meadows of wildflowers as seen in the second shot, a very enjoyable place to visit and the Rhubarb Shed Café within the complex does the best butties you could imagine.

23rd.

Back home today it is a long journey with the dreadful A66 to negotiate along the way, had a couple of stops and made it home safe and well after about 7 hours in total. Never used my car once while down in Sheffield but this was the exact mileage for the whole journey on arrival home, very pleased with the average speed, just wish I had been able to round it up to a nice 60. 🙂

24th.

Well something a bit different, this months challenge on the photographic forum I am on is on “household objects”, so do you know what this is? well it is a cheese grater up close, not sure how it will get on as some of the entries are really good, will let you know in the next blog.

25th.

On the 18th I showed you a picture of the outside of the village information centre, so today I have come inside, the four shots demonstrate what we have to offer in the area. Starting from the top :-

The bird on the left is a Golden Eagle and the larger one is a White Tailed Eagle that have recently been introduced across Scotland. I have in fact seen one fly over, being mobbed by Crows and it was so large that the Crows looked like Starlings mobbing a buzzard, the size difference was incredible.

2nd and 3rd shot show the information boards showing nature and things to do and see.

Lastly as the centre is open all winter this large wood burner is used to keep it cosy and it does.

26th

Another cracking warm day, busy in the garden in the morning, table tennis in the afternoon and an evening up at the fishing pond/loch. Not fishing but clearing some of the undergrowth to allow us to fish without getting snagged up. As usual the request went out to all forty odd members to come up and get stuck into the task, but also as usual 5 of us turned up. The hour spent cutting before the midges forced us to stop was very beneficial and I wonder how many non attending members will take advantage of that over the weekend? What surprised me was even though with three strimmer’s going and all of us close to the bank the trout were still rising fairly close in, I think it must have been all the insects we had disturbed were landing on the water and the fish were taking advantage of it.

27th

Guess we are coming ever closer to Autumn though we have had a wonderful summer type weather all this week, this time of the year we tend to get an abundance of mushrooms up here. On todays walk I found these two, the first has been well nibbled at by something I would think slug or mouse. I would in the past spent hours looking through my reference book trying to identify the type, but off fishing tonight so just had a quick scan, think the first is a member of the Bolete group, maybe a Orange Birch as I found it in a birch wood? The other I have no idea but was in pristine condition in a boggy meadow area, at my age I nom longer eat mushrooms I have found unless I know exactly what they are and give me a few weeks and I will be going to our secret spot to pick Chanterelles, which I love.

28th.

So this is the weekend of the Blair Castle International Horse Show a show that attracts 100,000 visitors over the 4 days, starting on Thursday and going through to Sunday night. Usually I would go down to it after 4pm as you can get in for free, but this year(due to the pandemic) that has not happened so I thought I would show you the morning queue to get in that more or less closes the village down to normal village traffic and everyone walks leaving the car at home or in streets away from the main road.

First shot is the entrance into the village from the A9, next is the section from the Tilt River bridge up to the castle entrance and lastly the pedestrians arriving by train joining the cars to travel the half mile up the castle drive. Then of course this flow reverses as people start to leave after 4pm.

29th.

Not much blooming in the garden this time of the year as our garden is very much a Spring early Summer garden, but this Purple Loosestrife keeps the bees happy and adds some colour to the garden.

30th.

As I looked out of the window this morning on a cloudy, cold start to the day I saw the distant herd of cows and the vision made me laugh. Okay the two furthest standing cows spoil it, but it looks like the laying down cows are forming wagons from the wild west in a semi circle , ready to repel anyone who decides to attack them during the night. Reality is the only thing they will see in the day is the farmer coming to inspect them.

Most unusual in a small village like ours, but it has two open and moderately active churches within in it. The first shot is of the Church of Scotland which is on the Inverness side of the River Tilt and the Episcopal Church on the other side of the river. The Episcopal Church has the wonderful name of Kilmavonaig and is a beautiful looking small church both inside and outside.

A cold start to the month only 6C when we got up on this the first day of the month, why can we not have a month of decent weather, warm and sunny like in my youth? Yes I can still remember it.

Somebody has suggested that I date each day so they can compare what is going on in their gardens on that day so I shall give it a try if I remember to put a date on.

!st.

Firstly I apologise for such a rotten shot of this insect, it had been flying around, settled and I ran and got my camera from indoors and rushed the shot in case it flew off.

I was convinced this was a Bee and searched online to identify it, turns out it is not a bee but a an Great Pied Hover Fly, which imitates a bee so as not to be eaten by birds. I have never seen one before but according to the internet it is a very common fly throughout Britain.

2nd

Now we often hear Owls both Tawny and Little but I have never photographed a wild one, so when this opportunity arose I got this shot of the one. This is the Lesser Spotted Big Bird Scare Owl, Common on a lot of fisheries to attempt to keep Ospreys at bay, it does not work as I have seen an Osprey dive on fish in this very Lochan that I fish weekly at Blair Walker.

An additional shot for today is we got up from lunch to find this young Robin (that is getting fairly tame with us) on my old slippers in the kitchen waiting to be fed some mealworms.

3rd

Another babe that has appeared over the last few days is this young Buzzard. Now how you know how human babies cry when they are hungry, well this youngster just sits on one of the three power cable posts most of the day and just mews for it to be fed. Occasionally a parent will show up and feed it or it will bomb it until it takes off and follows the adult. This enables the parents to give it a flying lesson, we have had low fly passes in front of the house or if there is a bit of a wind blowing the adult will take it up on the thermals to some great heights. Though I must say the babe is a bit reluctant to do the steep dive of it’s mentor, which are spectacular.

4th.

As I have stated before I am not much of a gardener, mowing the lawns is about my limit. But I do keep us supplied with lettuce and above is my system of production. The furthest right is the lettuce we are eating at present, it produces at least one more crop on a cut & come up again basis. It will give us three growths but the third one tastes fairly bitter so we normally just take two off of it. The middle tray will be the next tray ready when the first is finished followed up by last weeks sowing which, in this weather is growing fast. It is organic in growth as we only use our own compost to grow it in and it is watered by rainwater that we collect, so very healthy and low calories to eat.

5th.

In yesterdays post I told you about our lettuce growing and how we used our own compost, so today I thought I would take you through our 3/4 year process of making that compost.

We start of with 4 compost bins 4′ by 2′ in size.

The first is empty at the moment but when bin 3 is full we will start on this one, in the mean time we allow any weeds to grow in it and as that years compostable material goes on top of it it will die and add to the final compost.

This second bin is the one in current use and we try to add as much variety as possible, ranging from the household items from the kitchen, egg shells, coffee slops, tea bags and veg peelings, but no cooked food. Last on as you can see is rhubarb leaf’s.

The next bib is 2 or 3 year materials covered over and not disturbed , so we stack support twigs for the flowers that need support whilst growing.

Finally the finished product, beautiful loam that gets added to all the beds and growing areas in the garden and if being used for seed beds get finely sieved before use. The whole process is so worthwhile not only does it benefit the garden it saves me many a trip to the refuge dump in Pitlochry.

6th

At long last we have some rain and it looks like we are in for a wet weekend, the garden is absolutely desperate for it. Though we had one ten minute downpour nine days ago and it has not been particularly warm we do need this. Our Rowan trees have a lot of berries on them this year and they looked good with the rain on them so in between the showers I popped out and took the above shot. Folklore has it that if there is a lot of berries it means we are in for a bad winter, hope not, but we shall see. My only hope is that the fruit remains until the Redwings and Fieldfare arrive and they can feast on them and I can add them to the November/December blog, as I never got them at the start of the year.

7th.

We purchased a Clematis called Bill McKenzie as a climbing Clematis and boy since we have had it has it climbed. The first shot shows the attractive yellow flowers it has and the “old mans beard” type seed heads they turn to. The second shot shows how extensive it has taken over this mature Silver Birch on the left hand side of the shot. So the section I photographed is just a limb of the tree about 30 feet up, the main trunk of the tree goes up at least another 25 feet and the Clematis goes virtually to the top and is very vigorous. Therefore if you want a Clematis that forms a hedge or climbs up trees I can certainly recommend this variety.

8th

Went for a walk up Glen Fender and if we looked North West from us roughly a mile or so away this was what we saw, a menacing rain cloud. This proves the fact that it is so difficult to forecast the weather in our sort of terrain, because we were dry and not such menacing clouds above us. Twenty minutes later we got in the car , still dry and drove home a mile in the direction of the clouds . Sure enough we got home and got wet just going from the car to the house and it bucketed down for the next half hour. Love that little cottage in the middle of nowhere, the ruins beside it I think is the remains of a small kirk, to service the glens community in days gone by.

9th.

After a storm the day dawns a warmer one and you get the clouds rising of the ground, normally along the river course but here you can see it is fairly general, it makes the distant hills in the left side of the shot look like they have snow on them. Thankfully that never happened and it turned into a warm sunny day for once. In fact the sun was out more than forecast today and that ruined any chance of me catching a decent fish, well that is my excuse anyway.

10th.

Within a couple of years of moving in here we discovered the mature Ash tree at our gate was rotten in the middle and because it was such a large specimen we did not want it falling on the garage or anywhere else for that matter. So it had to go, and it certainly was to big a job for us to take on and had to get the professionals in, though we got nearly two years of firewood out of it it was a shame that it had to go. We decided to leave the stump and trunk to as height of about six foot from ground level, mainly because it is between to sheds and hard to cut down lower.

This proved invaluable as when it rotted down a bit (as you can see in the shot) our Greater Spotted Woodpeckers used it as their winter feeding ground, catching the many grubs that called it home. Another interesting fact is to the left of this shot you can see the tree has put out some new growth , though every year it dies back fully in winter. But on the right you can see a Rowan has established itself and grows a bit more each year, So we are glad we left it as nature is slowly making it useful.

11th.

I realise I have put a Blue Tit on already this year but not in this position, we always leave the top of this feeder open to allow birds to learn that on the window side of the feeder there are peanuts, as looking from an approaching bird side of the log there is just wood. If they sit on the top they can see down inside and can either venture into it when full or eat through the wire mesh on our side. This particular Tit discovered this and always feeds internally as it knows it can get a whole nut (not Cadbury’s) if it goes in. The only thing in the past has been in the it has decided it was to dodgy to get caught in the bowels of the feeder, so never fed when it was this low. Now it has decided it can just stay in there and eat the nut inside without being bothered by anything, so will sit and eat one nut, then take another out of the feeder. It is a tight squeeze but has been doing throughout this wet and windy day.

12th

Just driving down to the village and came across this sight that I had not seen before, just in the car park 100yards from home. These two guys are professional guides that are loading up two Highland Ponies getting ready to take two ladies on a trek through Glen Tilt to Linn of Dee. A twenty four mile walk that I did when we first moved up, which is a very scenic, fairly level walk that is most enjoyable. Unfortunately when I did it I only had Shanksies Pony to carry my camping, fishing, camera gear, but managed it. Like the ladies doing the walk I camped overnight about ten miles from home and they liked the idea that I camped by a burn and caught small brown trout for my supper and ate them having cooked them on an open fire. Though the weather is fine at present it looks like a wet and windy night ahead of them, so good luck with that, especially as tomorrow about five miles from the Linn they have to wade across a spate river.

Just to add on, my title for this blog was for August to warm up, last night the temperature went down to 3C and the daytime is just above to double figures, so looks like we need another hot spell to warm us up before Autumn.

13th.

I am spoiling you another four for the price of one. Just down onto the roadway and over the bridge, beside the Fender Burn is this wonderful moss bank (1st photo) and where trees have either been cut down or rotted you get some great structures that I often photograph. In the second shot your imagination can go wild in determining what creature this is, could it be a Woodpecker, or maybe an Anteater? Third shot in amongst the tree roots are all kinds of hiding places for many creatures, I have seen a mouse in the past and plenty of spiders, not seen any fairies or elves as yet, but you never know. Lastly on the rotting roots is this very fine mould which at times looks luminous and contrasts to the moss.

14th

15th.

A while back I showed you some spider webs with dew on them, well this morning I saw this spider sitting in the middle of it’s web just waiting for passing trade, so I had to take a shot of it. Not the easiest of shots as it was only about six inches off the ground and a good breeze blowing it’s web about but laid down with a close up lens and managed, getting up after five minutes ion the gravel of the drive was a different matter.

Well the first half of this month is done and what a disappointment weather wise, cold, rain, wind and not much sun, lets hope this heatwave we have been promised arrives soon.

So the last shot on this blog is from down in the village of the bowling green and clubhouse, somewhere that will be full up with competitors this afternoon as they have matches on a Sunday. Must be good to be allowed back to playing the pastime you enjoy. I am lucky with angling it has not really been affected by lockdown as it is mainly a solo sport and outdoors. Good to see the upkeep of the green and the clubhouse has been maintained. I have never participated in the art of bowling but amongst the villagers and holiday makers it seems very popular activity here in the village, not sure how much influence the bar within the clubhouse has on that, but it always seems well attended.

Second half of the month is underway and the weather is still good, though we would normally be looking forward to different events happening in the village to attract the tourist, everything has been cancelled, so nothing much new to show you. Maybe the August events will go ahead, I am sure the International Horse Show is so we shall see.

One of the highlights in the garden is to see if an Aaron’s Rod has come up in the garden from last years seed and sure enough this year we actually have two growing. This one is more in the sun and also sheltered from the wind, so has come out way before the other one. Next thing is to see how tall they grow, other years the single ones have grown to well over six foot and tower above anything else in the flower bed, these are standing about five foot at present, with plenty of flower to come out still.

Came across a sight I have never seen before while out on a walk, this small snail apparently resting in a purposely constructed dead leaf. A friend suggested that it maybe the snail constructed it;s own hammock on such a hot day. Shall have to go back there and see if it is still in there, plus if it is alive?

The monthly forum competition that I enter has a theme of colour this month and this is going to be my entry. The Campanula’s in this bed are stunning this year and add a lot of colour to the garden.

Another shrub throughout the garden that adds that bit of colour are the Hypericums. Though the above looks like it has a good shower of rain on it, no such luck, these water droplets are from an early morning visit by me with the hosepipe as the garden is beginning to wilt in this heat, actually reached 29C yesterday, but sometime in the night dropped to a mere 6C, must be getting close to a full moon (my long held belief that full moon produces the worst weather). Having seen this shot I am debating which shot of the two above to enter in the monthly forum as I think this is colourful.

This is an annual plant that we love having in our garden and grows up a conifer outside my bedroom window, a friend did tell me what it is called and how envious he was that we had it, but I have forgotten it’s name. Each year it oroduces more shoots and winds it’s way up through the conifer, sometimes we do not even notice the new stems until the flowers are out, but is a prize plant for us both.

We had a heavy dew this morning in these continuing hot days and (for us anyway) relatively cooler nights, from being up to nearly 30C down to single figures most nights. This of course makes all those many spider webs that you would not normally see become very visible and affect that I thing is very jewel like. First one is on a conifer that must have had at least 20n webs on it and the second two were on heathers lower down. You are fortunate that I have only put three shots up for today as I have taken loads of others and could really bore you.

The wife was doing her annual paint of garden sheds today and got to close to a wasp’s nest, as this was an area we use frequently and if they swarmed the way they did around her it could be fairly dangerous as I am very allergic to wasp and bee stings. So I am afraid to say that it had to go, and once the wasps had left the area after a dusting, I knocked it down. Now if none of you are familiar with the structure of a nest it is incredible, as you can see it is honeycombed shaped and individual cells for each growing grub. The top layer had already hatched and the next layer on the lower ones not hatched you can see the dark face of the wasp peeping through the grub. The white silk like covering is the smaller grubs and when they develop fully they break through that membrane ready to crawl out when fully formed. As much as I have to watch getting stung , they are fascinating creatures and their nests are a wonderful architectural delight.

Just above the field in front of us is this magnificent Oak tree, an unusual sight as normally all my shots surrounding us are of conifers, so this is a real exception. During most late Springs and early Summer this tree has been the home of a pair of Buzzards that nest and in all but one of the recent years has reared young here. Judging from the young ones calls for food, this year they have only reared one chick. I think I have seen it out once with a parent so it is fledged but seems to be reluctant to leave the nest and learn some flying skills. Out in the garden today I heard it giving out it’s usual call for food and one of the adults did appear and I managed to catch it circling above the tree, I presume trying to entice the youngster out from the coolness of the tree. No luck so it just flew off with the child screaming “feed me”.

P.S. I know I have shown you a Buzzard recently, but have not broken my different shot everyday rule as I have not shown you the Oak tree in any detail.

Throughout the village the Community Council have commissioned flower arrangements to be placed. In total there are 5 on the main road and are a pleasing sight to visitors and locals alike, they all share the same theme with wheelbarrows and pots and I for one are so pleased that they do not either get vandalised or stolen. This display is between the entrance to the castle and the caravan park.

In the past I have shown you shots of the Chinese calligraphy tree, a dead stump that looks like a Chinese letter. Well an encouraging sign for me after this horrid lockdown that even out of something as old as this stump, new life can emerge, as this Rowan growing on a dead piece of Silver Birch demonstrates.

Set the moth trap up and had some interesting species that i had not seen before in it, like a Burnish Brass, Beautiful Golden Y, a Golden Twin Spot and this beauty a Swallow tailed Moth, not to be confused with it’s butterfly of the same name. To me it just looked like a Chinese kite , so delicate and paper thin.

Not the best of shots as I had the wrong lens on the camera, but knew the sheep would soon be through the gate and into the farm yard, so had to take a quick snatch shot of this gathering. Cannot count them all as I might fall asleep in doing so, but, I reckon there was at least 300 sheep in this flock. They were sheared about a month ago so I am presuming they were being gathered for dipping or injecting, would think it was to many for a sale, but whatever the reason it was a wonderful sight to see the man on the quad and three dogs gather them all in to go through that gateway in the trees.

Today was also a sad day as we had the funeral of our lovely neighbour Kyle. A wonderful man so kind and thoughtful, although he has been ill for sometime he will be sadly missed by the whole village.

It is confession time, for the very first time in this challenge I have set myself, today I was just getting in bed when I realised that I had not taken a shot for the day. As it was gone eleven P.M. I didn’t feel much like going outside so just put on my dressing gown, gathered my camera with the correct lens on and wandered around the house looking for something to photograph. Saw this plant that a neighbour had given us and thought “colourful, worth taking a shot of, though a bit shiny”. It is so wax like but it is real and those bracks have grown out of it like a cactus, but it seems to be thriving in our house. No idea what it is called but it does add some colour to that corner of the window ledge.

Earlier in this blog I showed you the display of Campanulas we have in the garden, this is the wild version of them the Scottish Harebells, Many fields on the surrounding hillsides have these growing in abundance and this is a patch in the garden where the wife has nurtured them and spread their seeds annually to get this wonderful display, which is beginning to spread to other slopes in the garden.

When going through the village many people drive past this impressive entrance to Lude Estate just to get to Blair Castle, Though I have shown you the gates at the entrance to the castle, I do not feel they are as good as this entrance, which not many pay much attention to. Beyond the left hand buttress is a lodge that is occupied and I for one can imagine a servant of past lairds living there and having to lock some gates each evening to keep the riff raff out.

Well that is another month ticked off, I wonder what next month will bring for me to photograph?

That is, it on the homeward journey now only 184 more shots to have completed the year in photography. What knows may turn up for me to photograph, I hope there are as many surprises in this half of the year as there has been in the first half, so many shots I would never have dreamed of getting, so lets hope I can surprise myself as well as you.

This month started off a bit wet, but the last week of this blog has turned out to be a warm and wonderful week, let us hope it continues for the rest of the summer, but with the occasional wet day to save me getting the hose out.

How many of us go to a garden centre with the intention of buying just the plants you want and end up bringing home something you have not seen before or had any intention of buying. Above is one of those purchases, I just saw it and with my love of the Primula family I knew I just had to have it. It is called “The Red Hot Poker Primrose” and though I am not the head gardener in this household I hope I can get a real good patch of these established over the next couple of years. According to SWMBO my father in law had one many many years ago, but back then I did not know a Dandelion from a Daisy, older (a lot) and wiser (a bit) these days.

A rare visitor to our garden but always when it does come it goes to this particular Pyracanthia bush, which makes it hard to get a good shot of as it is in the narrowest part of the garden and I have to take it through the double glazing in our bedroom. It is of course as the shot shows you, a Blackcap and the male of the species, the female has a more brown cap and it was there before the male but I didn’t manage to catch a decent image of it . A very shy bird that any movement and it is off like a shot, so pleased I at least got this glimpse of it.

I really intend to get some use out of the photographers light box I got on Fathers Day and this is my first real attempt at a still life.

We go for our daily walk and I for one seem to ignore the common sights in life, walked 100 yards down the road today to where our communal bins are and on the way back up to the house just picked up these different grasses that had seed heads on. The variety of shapes and colours, if you really study them, are beautiful and these are all around us. If you live in a city, town or countryside, they are there, so its well worth while just take your time and enjoy the pleasures such simple things in life that can be seen.

I do not know the reason why, but large snails are just something we very rarely see in our garden, the habitat is right for them damp areas with lots of vegetation for them so it is weird. So when the wife saw this on the path it just had to be shot for today. She was on her way out and told me she had put a glass on it as she couldn’t pick it up. I placed it on some wood and waited for it to start moving, this is a three foot drop off so I didn’t want it to fall so grabbed a few shots before prising it off and reuniting it with the field in front of us. A good meal for a Thrush no doubt. I must admit I do not think I have seen such a shiny shell as this one had, is that a sign that it was in good condition? Obviously edible size if you like that sort of thing, not for me.

This time of the year our garden and every roadside verge, hedgerow and fields are full of Foxgloves. We try very hard to cultivate any white ones that we have by spreading the seed around as I and the wife really like them. But typical one hundred yards from the house in a nearby field hedgerow is this magnificent specimen just doing it’s own thing and it is far superior to anything we have growing in our garden. We shall have to wait until it has seed heads and grab a few before the birds get them and see if we can improve our stock.

We are inundated with baby birds at the moment and I have added two today’s post. This first one is a Great Tit, not looking that much different to the parents except baby Tits always look as though they have been washed and cleaned by their parents before being allowed out in public, shiny and pristine.

This of course is a Blue Tit also like Mum & Dad but a bit more yellow than them but still very neat and tidy.

Though I have shown you Nuthatches before this one just kept me entertained while waiting for other birds. This of course is an adult, but seemed to be much keener to find grubs in the tree bark upside down than the right way up. In between getting the occasional grub out from under the bark it did spend a fair time on the peanut feeder. These are normally very flighty birds, but with it staying around I guess it was gathering food for young somewhere.

Not many of you will have this herb in your gardens and I am beginning to understand why, it is very hard to get rid of once it is established because of it’s large root system. Again not many will even hazard a guess to what it actually is that is why I am only showing you the seed head at the moment. It is a very versatile herb, an acquired taste and the young leaves can be tossed in a salad , or put inside a chicken or turkey before roasting, mainly used in soups and stews though you can add it to mash, put the seeds in bread or biscuits. Makes you want it doesn’t it? I quiet like the taste though my wife doesn’t as I said it is a required taste. It is in fact Lovage, who got that one, love to know. Just found out you can braise the roots , so might at last eradicate it from the garden if I like the taste.

Spoilt you rotten today with 4 shots of a daily village event, the arrival of the Tesco train. Rather than clutter the main trunk road to Inverness (the A9) Tesco have decided on sending all their goods going to Inverness and the surrounding shops up there by containers loaded on a train. today was 17 containers, so 17 less lorries on the road.

The line from Perth to Inverness is mainly a single track, so what happens at Blair Atholl is that with two tracks the engines can pass one another. Normally Tesco is in first and it sits in the station to await the North bound passenger train. Today the passenger train got in first so the Tesco train did not have to stop, which is a shame as I was going to dash down the platform and get some more shots, but above was todays sequence of events.

Though this is a wild plant we always had some in our gardens when living down South as it attracts the bees and is common in England. So of course we came up with some and it has become established in various areas of our garden. It is called Purple Toadflax and grows some 2 to 3 feet high and is a sturdy plant. Maybe it is new to Scottish bees as at present it is one of the few plants that we do not have many bees on, I am sure they will soon find it to their liking, just as we do.

One of my favourite plants in the garden this time of the year is this luscious blue Delphinium . Most years the blooms are much longer going a lot further down the stem than the flowers this year do, not sure what has made them so short, but it could be a combination of the dry spell we had late May or the hard winter affecting the roots. Either way it is still a terrific colour and a great plant, on researching it one fact I was not aware of is that it is a member of the Buttercup family, always learning that’s me.

Looking through the library of shots I have put on here I can see that I have not shown you what is most probably one of the most colourful birds we have on our shores, the Goldfinch. Once again I bring you two for the price of one, such bargains on this blog . Maybe I should have said one and a half as one of them has their body well and truly into my feeding trough. You have to agree though with that bright red head and that yellow wing stripe, contrasting against the black and white, they are more tropical than British.

It is pouring with rain today, so surely you wouldn’t want me to go outside and get myself and my camera gear wet, would you? so sat in doors watching all the new birds feasting away on the various feeders, this one (next to our living room window) is a young Blue Tit in it’s pristine coat of soft downy feathers, so much duller colours than their parents but still very beautiful. I would say we have one family of four youngsters who seem to get on with each other and two others that as soon as they come on the feeder squabbles begin, that is why I do not think they are from the same family. Add to this a group of Great Tit babes and the Siskin youngsters it is then that not much food gets eaten as they are all to busy seeing who is top dog, normally the Great Tits win.

We have a fair few Dunnocks in the garden they always remind me of a mouse with wings as they scurry about darting from one hedge to another, not really staying still for a moment. Maybe for that reason I do not recall seeing many babes, so was pleasantly surprised when wandering around the garden this one just sat on a fence post at the right time. It is often said that a good photograph is part skill, part luck of being in the right place at the right time and actually having the camera with you.

P.S. I have started a discussion on a forum I am on as some are saying this is a baby Robin not a Dunnock, others are agreeing with me so either way I haven’t put either up so it does not affect my challenge.

They do say a weed is just a flower in the wrong place, here is a prime example, this is a Hawkweed and not that common inn Scotland but maybe we came up with it from down south but it flourishes in our garden and we have two out of the three species that grow in G.B. I have shown it how it grows and also the beauty of it when you see it up close, hope you like it, we do.

Really hot here today and a walk by the River Tilt, in the shade was what was in order, unfortunately this was just a grabbed shot down by the river waiting for my beloved wife before heading off to Dunkeld and a walk by the River Tay instead.

Why is it, no matter what season we are in, when I am about to mow my lawns I spot a delicate little mushroom that just seems to beautiful to mow? I have trolled my mushroom books to see what this is but still not to sure of it’s name, so I wont attempt to get it right, needless to say I found it unusual to have those grooves on the top as well as in the gills. I think I will name it the inside out mushroom.

I know I have just put a Dunnock up this month that is why I have added it as a bonus to todays photo ( the mushroom), but I thought how clever was this bird. At present we are (for once) in a hot spell and the colder nights give the grass a fair bit of dew, so this bird decided that the cool and wetness of the grass was a good place to start the day, cooling itself down . It really snugged it’s way down to the soil hence not seeing a great deal of the body in this shot, so clever.

Went for a short walk today and captured these images and thought they were just to enjoyable not to show you, as I have already done my daily shot for my challenge.

Hope you enjoyed them.

Computer still working, which is a surprise as I fixed it. Not sure what will be on offer but the Glen seems to be coming alive with wild flowers, so that’s how I will start the blog off.

The first image is of just a farmers field showing off the diversity of organic, natural fields. The Daises and Buttercups are in abundance and for some reason remind me of Julie Andrews singing “The Hills Are Alive” in the Sound of Music.

One thing the heathland on our daily walk is full of are Orchids, this one is a Spotted Heath Orchid. Now most of you will know that normally these are pale pink but in Glen Fender a vast majority of them are this deeper near purple colour. Though the same plant as the pink one it is believed but not proven that it might be a hybrid, mixed with the Northern Spotted Orchid. On todays walk we must have seen well over 50 of them.

Had the moth trap out last night as it was forecast to be dry, only caught four moths, could not understand why only four as we had had a warm sunny day before . Then I looked at my out door minimum / maximum thermometer and saw why, can you believe three days away from the longest day and the temperature last night went down to FOUR degrees Celsius.

Now I know this is a member of the Hawk Moth family, but being new to identifying them I am not sure which. It could be a Striped Hawk Moth, but that has a but that has a different thorax, or it could be a Eyed hawk Moth which has the pink hindwing, but my species does not have the eyes on that pink? So I shall have to send the shot off to an expert and come back to you with what type it is.

We have many different coloured Aquilegia in the garden, pink, white, interbred between the two, but by far the best of all of them are these elegant yellow ones. I think one of the main things it has going for it is the fact that it hangs at this angle allowing you to see the beauty of it where the other colours just hang down and you have to falsely lift them and prop them up in order to get a decent shot of them. One thing about the whole family is that the bees really love them, especially Bumble Bees.

An important day on the calendar today, yes it is Fathers Day here in the U.K. As usual my two “boys” didn’t forget and one gave me a very generous Amazon gift card (which 2/3rds I have spent) for me to buy some much needed fishing gear. The other gave me a photographers light box, which is exactly what it says on the tin. A polycarbonate box with a ring of LED lights in the top, to enable me to shoot all sorts of different things with 6 different coloured backgrounds. Hopefully it will be helpful to photograph my moths in it, but by way of an experiment I took shots of the different backdrops using this yellow rose as a tester & the black background seemed to suit the shot best.

As way of a added bonus today I have added the two shots below. Whilst having a “happy Fathers Day chat with one of my sons at 8.30 at night, look what strolled into the garden. The Hybrid Wildcat that we had only seen on the trail camera , very alert and aware that I had grabbed the camera, it stayed just long enough for me to grab some shots. I and my son on the other end of the phone got really excited and as soon as we had finished chatting I had to send him then shots. As much as I loved the presents and cards from my boys, this was a moment I shall never forget. Have sent the shots off to the study group as well.

The eyes were piercing and it spent most of the time just staring at me.

As the Pyracanthia comes into flower, so the Bees and wasps descend on it in their drones, while photographing this Buff Tailed Bumble Bee there must have been ten others in the vicinity of the hedge row. The noise is incredible if you are sitting in that part of the garden that is all you can hear, I presume they are so noisy because of the size of those little wings that have to propel that big fat body around, they certainly seem out of proportion to the body.

I started off this blog with a field of Buttercups and Daisies and have walked in our garden and discovered by the pond these Buttercups that I think are on steroids. Though I must admit they look terrific when & I repeat when, the sunshine’s on them . It is a surprise to me that anything is still alive in the garden as overnight at some point the temperature went down to exactly zero C, even for us that sort of temperature, for the middle of June is a bit extreme.

Found this unusual Beetle on the garage door, it looks like it has no head, was not aware about what it was as not really up on my Beetles ( only the Liverpool Fab Four, I know they are spelt differently ) . So asked on a forum and soon got the answer, which when you look at it the name is obvious, it’s a Rhinoceros Beetle. Apparently fairly rare this far North, guess that is another sign of climate change, species are moving further North.

Well this certainly has been a second half of the month I will never forget. Firstly we had never seen a Wildcat apart from on the trail camera and it turns up in daylight and well enough for me to get some great shots of it. Now tonight at 7.30 I looked out the lounge window at our squirrel box and thought ” That’s not a squirrel” only to find it was a Pine Martin. The wife grabbed my camera for me and luckily I had my long lens on and though through double glazing and in pouring rain, managed these half decent shots of it. Now in the 17 odd years we have been here we caught a very fast glimpse of one running over the compost heaps, no photo. This one stayed long enough to eat all the peanuts before disappearing. I had already taken the shot of the day a family of 4 baby Goldfinches being fed by their parent , so I guess I will hope they will be back tomorrow and you can see it then.

Much of Glen Fender is moorland with drainage from fields producing boggy areas where all sorts of plants grow, which is why the Glen has such a diverse and rare habitat. But one plant that is very prevalent throughout is the one above Cotton Grass. This photo is one of a plant in my garden pond, though I never introduced it to the pond it has arrived and is thriving, which I am not unhappy about as it adds a natural looking feel to the pond, along with the Buttercups and Spotted Heath Orchid I showed you a shot of earlier in the blog. Not so keen when it sheds it’s seeds and covers the pond, but I will put up with it .

Our ambition is for the very top of our garden to just grow wild, making it a haven for insects of all kinds. To start that process off we did as all the experts tell you to do, start of by introducing Rattle to the grass, over two years we have more than introduced it, we have created a mini meadow of hundreds of Rattle plants. They are an attractive plant anyway and when they have flowered and dry out the seeds in the flower heads do literally rattle and with a wee shake of them around the area do set very easily and most importantly survive our harsh winter conditions. With this shot I was experimenting with taking a shot as low as I could and getting that bokeh effect going through the plants, not sure it worked but I liked the effect.

The trouble (well it is not really a trouble) with this time of the year is that all the plants seem to be at their best, so therefore I have got to try and squeeze as many into the blog as possible and if you prefer my bird and animal shots you may find this a bit boring. But as you can see above I am sorry but it is another plant. This one is slowly taking over one of the flower beds but is a very attractive plant. My expert is not in at present but I think it is a late flowering member of the Primula family and the pendulum flowers are on a stem up to a foot long, very sturdy ( they have withstood the gale force winds we had a couple of days ago) and thick. a great addition to the garden.

Went trout fishing for a couple of hours this afternoon, really hot and sunny (you heard correct) so didn’t hold out much luck in catching anything, so took the camera along as well. The fishing was as hard as I expected, managed to catch one Rainbow, which is already cooked and prepared to drop into my neighbour tomorrow for his supper. There were an awful lot of Common Blue Damselfly around and managed to catch a few good shots including the one above. With such an abundance around the water I am always surprised that you very seldom see the trout take them and I have often tried a imitation one on my fly rod, but never managed to catch one on them either..

Two for the price of one again, The first shot was not far short of becoming today’s shot as I took this sunset at 1040 last night, we were on our way to bed and it was so bright and filled all the west facing windows with a bright orange glow.

Look at the next shot, who wouldn’t want this beautiful looking plant in their garden, the detail in the petals, the hint of green and pink coming out from it’s centre, the sheer size of the flower head, a gardeners delight. But it is a plant I found on growing on the roadside down the road from us when I was out early this morning looking for Hares. It is Cow Parsnip a type of Hogweed. On researching it ( this blog is not just put together you know ) , turns out Hogweed got it’s name because it was gathered and used as food for pigs, it also states that the young stems are fairly pleasant to eat and taste a bit like asparagus, had to try it, was okay but not to sure about the asparagus taste.

Lets light a candle and celebrate, no not the football. Just the fact that I have achieved my halfway mark in this photo challenge, 6 at times testing months on trying to find a different subject everyday. Sometimes I so desperately wanted to bring you a shot of something I had photographed before but that was superior to the first one, hence on occasions the doubling up or trebling up of shots as I just wanted you to see it . But I have achieved it so far, just another 6 months to find subjects, I think I will be fine for a couple of months as new things are arriving in the garden and nature wise but in the barren months between lovely Autumn colours and Winter may be a problem. My life saver maybe if travel restrictions are lifted and we can get across to New York to visit our other son , though that is not very much part of the Cairngorms National Park , we all need a break.

Thank you all that have followed me through this challenge, your comments have been an encouragement, let us hope I can keep going as I am loving it.

Ity has been sixteen long days without a P.C. ( mainly thanks to Royal Mail delayed delivery) but I am back up and working. As I have said in the past I like to take the photo of the day and put it straight onto the draft for the half month, that keeps it fresh in this empty brain of mine and is so much easier than writing it up all at once. So I had to remember to take a photograph daily, keep them in camera ( along with all other shots I have taken ) until I could transfer them onto the repaired computer (repaired by me by the way, a computer geek at last), had a wee panic when I was short of one shot for the 8th of this month, but found it in the wrong folder eventually. So here I go putting words to photos for the last day of last month and up until today the 15th.

Two for the price of one on the last day of May. The first shot is from my moth trap, the first real warm night since I got it for my birthday and I had loads to identify. This particularly large specimen is a Poplar Hawk moth, a stunning beast that I had never seen before.

The second shot is taken not on my main camera but on my trail camera, set up because my son had seen this Wildcat in the garden late one night. Oxford University are doing a study of them and I sent this and a few more shots off to them to get they’re opinion of it, they seem to think it is a hybrid that has bred with a domestic cat, but were interested in it. In fact a member of staff last week came with some catmint type plant that they love in a hessian piece of sacking that I have put out on string with the hope that the cat will bite into it and a DNA can be extracted from it. As of last night I have captured pictures of the cat sniffing it but not biting it. Exciting times though and thrilled that such a beast actually comes in the garden.

Our garden this time of the year is full of these Icelandic Poppies, all yellow and they only last a day but a great little plant to have in the garden, all we do is allow it to go to seed and let it sprinkle itself around the garden.

Not a great lover of rhodendrum but amongst the Azaleas this one is a stunning colour, so it can stay.

Springwatch was saying that there is a shortage of Blue Tits nesting in boxes this year or that those that have had failed because of the cold start and lateness of food for the babes. I agree this is the only box that is occupied and is (so far) successfully raising young. We did have a fright last week when the near gale force winds blew the lid off and left 3 very young featherless babes very venerable, but I managed to go out about 8 at night when I spotted it and re-attach it. Still both parents are busy feeding so hopefully I will show you some fledged Blue Tits later on.

A couple of male Mallards complete with reflection a good sunny day for once, on a local pond not my garden one.

First of the fledglings in the garden one of the, maybe, three babes from the House Sparrows nest above my bedroom window, being well fed (courtesy of me of course) and looked after by the parents. It still has that whiteness around the beak making it look larger when opened up for feeding.

Okay normally this is a common bird for most of you, for us it is a bird we have seen mainly during the breeding season and I have shown you already that it had built two nests within the garden, but abandoned both. Well at least it is still around and on a dark miserable day it was great to see this lovely Thrush coming in for a feed, we call these elegant little birds, to me almost royal in appearance.

Again I am so generous to you all, two photos for today as I could not choose which one I preferred. The top one is a field that we see on our walks up the glen. I just loved the way the farmer had mown this grass and how it showed all the different levels within that field.

The second I am informed by by one of my sons is a Four Dotted Chaser, okay there are four dots on each wing, but with two wings shouldn’t it be called an eight dot? Anyway it is the first dragon fly we have seen this “summer?” and I was fortunate enough to have the right lens on at the right spot as it settled down.

I just loved getting this shot, it was taken in the heart of the village by the information centre, with people walking the area all day long and the rabbits just dart into the undergrowth when you walk past. This youngster just popped his head up out of the long grass and I knew where he had gone and was ready for it to appear. Glad to say our population around the house have been eradicated by a young lad with a ferret, so the garden is rabbit free.

Okay I have shown you my mealworms but I thought I would show you the complete life cycle, which by the end of the year I hope to be self sufficient in this much appreciated bird food. At present I buy the mealworms in they then turn into the armour plated looking laves that are white, before becoming beetles that then breed, lay eggs and turn into mealworms.

I am really giving you value for money this month, three different stages above of the eclipse we had. Started about ten in the morning in the first shot, progressed to it’s peak about eleven twenty, before finishing in the last shot about ten past twelve. So glad that we had some cloud to dim it down as when it was in clear sky it was to powerful for the filters I had on the camera. But pleased I managed to get these shots (plus a few more I have not put up) .

This is the River Tilt from the road bridge, as you can see the river levels are very low, mainly due to the fact we have not had much rain and being a spate river it is only really any height when there has been rain. Middle left you can see a small pool just off the main river, this is the diversion into the lade that feeds the mill and due to the low levels the lade is completely dry, so no flour being milled. Normally when this low the spit in between the river and the lade can normally be piled up to give the majority to the mill. But as the salmon are coming up the river to spawn, the Environmental Agency will not allow any alterations to the water course.

This is a standard Primula that we had to have in the garden because of it’s name a “Dusty Miller” the nickname of all Millers, well except mine which is “Daisy”, don’t ask.

On one of our daily walks I saw this and loved it, I love the way nature just takes up any opportunity it can to grow where ever possible.

This Potentilla took a real beating in the extra long cold Winter we have just had and we really thought we would need to replace it as a hedgerow, but the plants that have matured up here seem to be a hardy bunch and these have bloomed their socks off and as an added bonus the Bees love it.

So pleased for my last shot I can show you this beauty a Rainbow Trout weighing in at exactly 3 lb a personal best for me from our local water at Blair Walker the water I showed you in another blog. Will be smashing to eat when I cold smoke it later on in the year, don’t worry it is in the freezer until that day.

That is me caught up from the computer shortage, my two fingers are burning from typing, but I made it.

At last some of the stringent restrictions we have had during lockdown have lifted and most places in Scotland can enjoy a bit more freedom. One good thing that has come out of this long winter lockdown is that people have had time from their busy lives to notice the beauty that surrounds them. An appreciation of nature has shown that deep down it is important to all of us and that it is there for all to enjoy, whether you live in a city flat or out in the wilds like us greenery and the natural world that is within is beautiful. Maybe this will make the world a better place for all.

Our first image is of a female Chaffinch, I have shown you the male before which was a very colourful bird and though the female is a lot plainer it is still a beautiful bird. Over the last week or so we have had an influx of both Chaffinches and Siskins and they are now the main birds we see on the feeders. I guess these are migratory birds that will spend the summer with us and breed before flying off to warmer climes, whatever they are a welcome addition to the garden population.

Another sign that things are warming up we have at last got some Cowslips coming out, though not a great number like our garden conditions we do get pockets of them appearing in the garden, though not that many out in the wild.

Okay we have to accept Wasp’s are going to be with us throughout the summer nobody really looks forward to their arrival. This is one of the first we have seen in the garden but no doubt they will multiply as the weather improves. Some of you may not be aware that two years ago a swarm took over an empty Blue Tit box in my garden and literally covered the whole of the outside of the box with their paper nest and just left a tiny hole in the middle to get inside the box. It was fantastic in the winter when I cleaned it out to see the intricate building work they had done within.

As you are aware I lost all of the fish in my pond due to the very prolonged freezing weather so as my birthday is rapidly approaching when one of my two sons asked what I would like for my birthday I automatically said “fish for my pond please”. So today while shopping in Perth we called into the pet store and purchased ten new fish including the five in the picture above. They hid for the first thirty minutes of releasing them, but then seemed to be exploring their new home, lets hope they enjoy it, I shall have great pleasure in watching them swimming around.

Great excitement in our household as this new freedom we have got allows our other son from Sheffield to visit us tomorrow and stay with us, this is the first time we have seen him since September.

Nothing beats a mothers joy of seeing one of her two sons after 9 months of lockdown, such relief that just poured out.

Okay a bit unusual this shot, so busy today as it is not only my birthday it is also the opportunity to have the Christmas meal we missed out on with our son and partner. This shows the devastation we caused to that long awaited to eat turkey, just delicious and worth waiting for. Having a break before we tackle the Christmas pud and custard, I will try not to fall asleep in the meantime.

My main birthday present was a night time moth trap which I have dreamt of owning for years, So of course last night it had to go out for a trial run, even though it was blowing a gale and very cold. I didn’t hold up much hope of catching a single moth under those conditions. To my surprise this morning I had one moth inside the trap and due to the fact there are hundreds of different moths with the help of my son we eventually found the name of the one above. Of course (being me) it is very common throughout the U.K. and is called a Streamer. So all I need now is the weather to warm up, some dry nights and a lot of patience to look up what it is when I do catch some.

Called a Lollipop Primula this cracking little plant is just making an appearance in our garden, it is the standard type version of a normal Primula and when fully out in a ball looks like a lollipop on a stick, hence it’s name. Beautiful colours with it’s orange/red underside and the striking yellow petals.

Three for the price of one today, these are the three different colours of Forget-Me-Nots that are abundant in the garden at the moment. Light conditions were not that good as it has rained ALL day, in fact the hills had an icing sugar dusting of snow overnight. But have tried to show the normal blue, followed by the pink and the not so common white. I have been assured by my head gardener that if these lovely little plants were not controlled they would take over the whole of the garden.

Went fishing today and caught two very nice Rainbow Trout one was a cross between a Rainbow and a Brown Trout called a Tiger and as (of course) I had my camera with me was going to be the shot for today, but I am afraid it was surpassed by this little beauty.

I am hopeless at identifying most wading birds as it is an area of ornithology I have not really studied , so I asked some friends on a forum what it was as it is like two or three similar birds. Turns out it is a Common Sandpiper, trust me to not know what it was and it has the name Common because it is just that and is seen throughout the British Isles. I had seen it up at Blair Walker before but always in flight never sitting on a post as this one was, thank you Sandpiper for the pose.

Slowly one by one the Azaleas are coming out, this yellow one is always the first and gives off the most wonderful scent of them all. Over the next couple of weeks I will try and bring you each colour as it makes a terrific show on one side of the garden. The lady who owned this house before us really knew her stuff when it came to laying out the garden and we do appreciate it, as to be honest we could not have planned it half as well as she did.

I have not had a clue on how many hundreds of moths that we have in G.B. and as I stated on the last moth posting, just how difficult it would be to identify each one. At present (I think mainly down to the cold weather we are having) the above is only the second moth I have caught in my trap and that took me a good half an hour to find what it was. Just imagine in the summer, when we have loads of moths flying around and get caught in the trap, how long it is going to take me to identify everyone.

Anyway I think I have found the name of the one above, I magnify the fact that I THINK it is a Dwarf Pug, once again a very common moth throughout Britain, which likes conifers. As our garden is full of them it is not that surprising to find it here. I do like the way it flew to the window on release and that enabled me to get such a clear shot of it.

One thing I have been amazed at during this quest for a different shot each day is how observant I have become with things that in the past I have taken for granted. This is a prime example, look at the new growth on this Christmas tree, it is really beautiful, such a luscious lime green and a very vigorous growth throughout the tree, love it.

Almost ashamed to put this on as it is so out of focus, I have my excuses 1/ I was walking up to Sarah’s Pond, which is a very steep climb and I was well out of breath. 2/ I was carrying my fishing rod and landing net and could not put it down in case the Fox noticed the movement and was gone before getting a shot off with the camera of course. 3/ It saw me and I knew I literally had seconds to grab the shot, 4/The Sigma 150-600 lens is very heavy to take a long distant rushed shot and lastly 5/ it was over 100 yards away from me. So this was very much a grabbed shot and it is the only Fox I have ever seen in the 18 odd years we have been here. Just caught the movement of it out of the corner of my eye and it was just staring at me, but I am not sure where it was before I saw it.

I just love the way these Ferns unruffle themselves like a curled up insect tongue just ready to pounce on something and in this present sunny conditions they are radiant.

Just to say my desktop computer has gone and died on me, so though I am a day early for the end of the month I will continue taking my daily shots but will not be able to convey my blog to you until I get it fixed. Which I hope will not be to long.