Weather forecasts are stating that we could be in for a heat wave this month, well that would be good to see as we have not had much of a summer. Though to be honest up here in the wilds of the Cairngorms, this month has not started off that good, cold, wet and fairly dull and with nights drawing in it is now dark my nine at night. But if you live this far North you cannot expect tropical conditions , so we just get on with life.
1st
After a cold night we did get a good sunrise then the day went downhill after that. A sure sign of Autumn weather is mist coming up off the rivers , first shot shows the route of the River Garry in the distance and the second of the Tilt which joins the Garry in the village.
8th.
Well we had the heat wave three whole days when we have had twenty four degrees C and that is our summer, tomorrow rain followed by strong winds for the following two days. So made the most of today and went on a circular drive of about fifty miles of our scenery, below is a few shots from it. But as most of it was single track roads , not much chance of stopping for landscape shots.
First stop Loch Tummel about a mile on from Queens View, said to be where Queen Victoria stopped and admired the view. The cone shaped mountain in the middle is Schiehallion of which this series of shots are based around, a place of interest that I will tell you about later.
This little Loch is my favourite Brown Trout water I can fish, it is called Loch Kinardochy and sitting in a boat this time of the year at one with nature and (hopefully) catching these beautiful fish is wonderful. Often with the sound of bellowing Red Deer stags in the background during the mating rut. Again Schiehallion in the background.
From the car park where the adventurist start their walk up Schiehalion the top being one thousand and eighty three metres above sea level, therefore a Munro.
Looking into the sun again at our mountain.
Now I will tell you about the mountain, the English translation is “The fairy Hill of Caledonia”.
The famous thing about this mountain is that in seventeen seventy four the Astronomer Royal Neville Maskelyne decided he wanted to work out the mass of the Earth and chose Schieallion as it was cone shaped to work it out using it for his measurements. The calculations were based on the fact that the mountains own mass caused a pendulum to swing away from the vertical? No I don’t understand it either, but that is what he did.
12th.
Woke up to a really cold morning (so much for the heatwave) when I looked at the thermometer I was shocked, the coldest morning we have experienced for this early in the month, wait for it, MINUS THREE C. and to prove it I have enclosed the picture. So I thought I better take some shots of our Autumnal plants before they shrivel up like we have.
The Autumn Crocus have already been affected.
Along with the Hydrangea.
Though under the bush and lower the blooms are still there.
Heathers are fine.
A young Berberis looking good in the sunlight (note the nearly full wood shed behind nearly ready for Winter)
The wife planted some beautiful Autumn colours this year.
The red leaves and berries are a reminder that it is not long until the thing that we must not mention this early will be happening in December.
More berries than leaves on this one.
15th.
An emerging baby Fly Agaric poisonous to humans, but……
As this older one shows, not to animals.