East Ayrshire Life

By the time you read this we will either be about to return home or have returned, depends on how much time I have to relax and complete the blog. The reason being we are off on the 6th to visit our son in the U.S.A., firstly four days in New York and then ten days in Santa Monica. Had to stop off in NY so I can attend my first Zoom meeting on the same time line as them, I will be earlier rather than later when in L.A.

A trip like this is just what is needed after the upheaval of moving, a time to relax and enjoy the break, no more putting up pictures, no more decorating, no more getting things fixed like light fittings. Just good company, food and of course wine.

2nd.

Today is new workshop day, we got up early thinking the men would be here to start dismantling the old one, which was rotting away broken windows saggy roof panels leaking and generally not very good. Then erecting a new one. By eleven A.M. no workers. so phoned and they are not coming to us until this afternoon, the time that I thought I would see daylight in my greenhouse as I emptied all that is stored in there into the workshop where it belongs. Oh well looks like I will be doing that during Storm Amy that is meant to hit us tomorrow.

Hope to get before and after shots of the workshop. So all six windows are blacked out(or should it be browned out?), slight dip in the roof, near the ground bottom left the panels are rotted and around the back, a bit dodgy in the middle as well, so hopefully before dark I will have a newly erected workshop. You can see the small greenhouse next to it which is full upend it will be good to have it free to put some plants in over the Winter months for protection.

This does not really show the extent the greenhouse is full, if you notice the Tesco delivery crates bottom right, there are a total of twenty of those boxes in there, all full of “stuff” that should and will be in my new workshop before we go away on Sunday.

2nd.

Got up half hour early expecting the workshop first thing , phoned at eleven to be told it will be with us after lunch. But when the two lads arrived, did they put a full shift in. Started at two p.m. and where on their way by four forty-five . having un loaded new shed, demolished the old one, erected the new one and strapped the old one on the van, great teamwork.

Below is a sequence of events as filmed through the bedroom window.

Most of the greenhouse empty as soon as they left, workshop is full, but as soon as I get some ply tomorrow and put some shelves up and fill the drawers it will soon be clear (I hope) but that won’t be until we return and jet lag has been got over.

6th.

So after a delayed start to our holiday with our plane leaving Edinburgh two hours late we arrived in New York and spent the day unpacking and getting some sleep to try to help jet lag on it’s way.

7th.

Our favourite walk is across town to the Hudson River and walk down to the financial district , then onto the Peace Gardens to pay our respect for 9/11, before going to eat lunch in our favourite Italian chain of restaurants Eataly.

Still a lot of construction going on along the waterfront, this building was the largest, being nearly as tall as the Peace Tower. I just loved the shape of it.

Just a view from the Financial District out across the water to the Statue of Liberty.

Always love this building, looking up to the glass roof with the Palm Trees nearly touching it now.

8th.

Last full day in New York so we had to walk the Highline. This is a disused above ground subway track and goes from (roughly and you New Yorkers don’t tell me off) Chelsea all the way up to the Hudson Yard and is a horticultural delight.

But first we had to stop for a coffee at a very unique venue a florist that has a cafe within and changes it decor with the seasons. Being now officially Autumn it has fresh, real, tree branches throughout the shop and on the outside, it is great to sit amongst such colour and the effort to produce it is incredible and my hot chocolate was good too.

Cannot resist a great sign .

Some great colour still in some of the plants but also Autumn seed heads look great.

Mother Theresa and Gandhi having a chat on the side of a building.

Usual fast moving traffic in NYC, not.

The Edge platform with it’s glass floor great piece of archetecture.

A quiet section of what is a very popular walk, some may recognise the bag lady coming towards me?

The end of the line, very appropriate before we moved onto California.

12th.

After a day to recover even more jet lag the wife & I went out for a early morning stroll along the cliff top looking down on the Santa Monica beach, a sis usual this time of the year this time of the day was a bit misty but a very beautiful part of the world for a stroll.

This Bottle Brush tree is outside my son and his wife’s apartment and is head height above you and with the sun shining through it is a real jewel.

If it wasn’t such a steep climb back up the road we would have preferred to have had our walk along the boardwalk on the beach, but we were content to walk along the top and look at the deserted beach.

Just to show that Halloween is fast approaching.

13th.

Being on the west coast the sunsets are always amazing over the Pacific Ocean, so this evening we all drove down to the beach and walked along it to observe the sunset. here are a few of the many shots I managed to capture on a warm beautiful evening.

A yacht heading home after a day out sailing.

School children playing soccer and volleyball in the twilight.

Young girls on a photo shoot and I managed to get a couple of shots without the photographer seeing me or getting in the shots.

Finally the sunset hidden behind the iconic lifeguards hut.

13th.

By popular demand we have returned once again to the Huntingdon Museum and gardens a place that always has hundreds of visitors but the grounds are so vast it is so quiet and peaceful.

Our favourite sections have always been the Japanese and Chinese gardens with their wonderful structures and natural stone, always involving water and fish and this one shows true Carp feeding nose down in the mud and silt.

Of course neither of these gardens would be complete without Bonsai, and below is just a selection of the loads I took of these beautiful crafted plants.

This last shot shows how simple a small pot with two water lilies in can make a corner of a garden look so beautiful and elegant.

So from the dullness of construction of a garden workshop to the beauty of a Japanese garden, this has certainly been a varied blog, I hope you enjoy it. Five more days before a mammoth return to East Ayrshire a journey that will mean twenty hours from getting up here in sunny California to driving into our house on a dull day and a collapse into bed.

Not many will remember the Shirly joke from a film, but I do every time someone uses that word.

Twice this week we have woke up to ice on the car, surely (stop it), this is way too early? Busy Liz that were out in a pot have shrivelled up & died , some other plants are looking a bit poorly. Others are dying back as you will see or at least going into their Autumn colours. Way too early only just the first days of Autumn, not Winter and back in the Cairngorms they have had their first snow.

23rd.

Walked around our little garden and captured some shots of the flowers that were enjoying today’s sunshine.

Pampus Grass

A Sedum.

From green to deep red in one stem.

Looks like we will have some good variegated Holly for Christmas decorations.

Last of a Budlia bush flowers.

The Acer changing colours already.

Walked down to the village and the colours are definetly changing.

Seed heads are floating around.

Think this was long dead before the frost appeared.

Now two things that will soon be mysteriously disappearing from our garden on the next refuse tip run.

Sorry not for me.

28th.

As we had a bit of rain in the morning our afternoon walk was on the tarmac and we went partially up the drive to what our neighbours refer to as the “big house” . didn’t go far enough up their drive to see just how big it is but that is for another day. The house is owned by the new lairds of the estate, which again the neighbours tell me, was purchased for just under two million pounds so guess it will be bigger than ours.

The ground is very low lying and is just all scrub and wetland, as you can see it is very near the loch. Met three lads who had been Pike fishing and told me where to go, though they didn’t catch one, they said it was a good spot, so a bit of Winter sport for me.

The last shot shows the Bullrushes in the submerged ground, though we didn’t;t see much birdlife I would think the Spring it will be full of birds and the amount of seed heads we should see a few Winter feeders. Plenty of Wrens about though.

As we have a lot of wind farms scattered amongst the barren hills the community do well out of financial schemes set up by the farms to help with funding of local projects. Today was the opening of one such project a cycling track for all to enjoy especially the youngsters, though it was packed when we walked past it , I did not feel comfortable taking photos with so many children present. When we came back from our walk its had been closed so I took the shots below through the security fencing.

It is such a great track and will be ideal for teaching children road safety, with road signs zebra crossings stop signs the lot . Plus picnic benches all around for parents to sit on and the whole family to have a great afternoon or morning out. In the last shot you can just see two purpose built sheds one for maintenance and the other for bicycle storage as I believe they have spare bikes for those who do not own one, or maybe they just want to try a different type of bike to theirs. Wonderful initiative and just what the youngsters want to get them out in the fresh air.

A change of title a change of area, this is our new life. Nearer our son , nearer to people that is for sure but we will make the most of it. Already as far as wildlife is concerned we have got some birds in the garden. Loads of Chaffinch & House Sparrows attracted to our feeders, plus a pair of Dunnock, Robin (of course), Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Collar Doves, occasional Jackdaws, Herring Gull, one Nuthatch and inevitably a female Sparrow Hawk. The last not being that welcome in the garden but still counts towards our (hopefully) ever increasing numbers. On my walks I have seen a pair of Mute Swans and a Dipper, but as the local Loch is surrounded by reed beds I hope to see a few more species hanging about in them.

As for the home, well one bedroom has been redecorated and ready for a new carpet, but as we need to empty that room before the next bedroom can be prepared for carpet , we are still surrounded by un emptied boxes, as there is no point in emptying them in to the various pieces of furniture only to have to pack them up when that bedroom needs emptying. But as you have read I did manage to find my card reader and gave you a bonus blog.

2nd

To celebrate a week of hard graft getting things together in the new home I allowed myself an hour or so to go ( in between the showers) and explore the waterways of the area. the first is a small narrow water that joins the River Doon a bit further out of the town. with all the rain you can see its is very fast flowing and is where I saw a Dipper, loving the water levels, the second shot was across to Bogton Loch, which I hope to explore tomorrow..

3rd.

True to my word today I went to explore Bogton Loch a vast area of water , but very shallow and weedy, mainly Pike fishing but the Salmon have to pass through it to get to the spawning grounds above Loch Doon or babes on their way to sea. The locals have a really well made staging to fish off but has been thoroughly spoilt by the rubbish, that I expect has been left by non anglers. I collected a bucket full of plastic bottles, crisp packets and general rubbish, which was really horrid to see. I cannot fully exclude anglers as included in the rubbish was dead bait bags of Herring & Spratt , plus fishing line. The bucket had been left there for people to put their rubbish in but non in the bucket when I arrived, will take it back with a note hoping people may use it.

On leaving the Loch the water becomes the River Doon again and from there to the next village (7 miles) is where I will be fishing in the future. Apparently further on there are still some good Brown Trout so I will enjoy that.

6th.

Have at last got round to taking some pictures of our surroundings.

The front door of our house, pebble dashed walls and come the spring the window ledges will be grey rather than white, the statue (held together with epoxy resin will disappear once I have booked an appointment at the recycling centre.

The view from our back patio area, the other side of our fence is a small mowed section then the field that is marshy ground but left as a nature reserve and then the hills beyond.

No garage but a good driveway in allowing parking for two cars and another view of the hills.

7th.

The Ayr Air Show was on this weekend and literally thousands descend on Ayr, all the locals avoid the town and though new are fifeteen miles from the sea front I still heard the roar of the Red Arrows but even louder was just one Typhoon, by next year I shall have sussed out where the locals go to watch the displays away from the crowds. But until then I only caught one aircraft leaving the event, which was a American Harvard mk5, apparently used by the Americans in WW2 to train pilots on, never seen one before , hence it being on here.

17th

Wouldn’t be my blog without a few birds on it, a Jackdaw and a House Sparrow, the latter enjoying a bath in our (due to heavy rain) garden puddle, even though we have provided a dish for it to bathe in, it preferred the muddy hole.

Also went into the town today and took a few shots around the village square if you can call a now roundabout into a square???

The roundabout in the square.

Town Pub.

Bus stop and shelter.

Close up of the shelter.

Upstream of the square and the Burn runs under the road and comes out below the square.

On the road to our recycling tip (to which we have now been six times) is this open scenery on a very quiet road, so quiet I was able to stop the car in the middle of the road and grab this shot. Incidentally the round trip to the tip is fifty minutes, slightly longer than I have been used to.

Finally one bedroom is completed and up and running, mine is going to be carpeted tomorrow afternoon and then I can finally un pack all those boxes and have my “den” up and running.

I have at last unloaded my card reader for my camera so can now put on all the photos that In took before the move, so consider this an extra bonus from shots while still in Perthshire.

Will never forget the fantastic bird life we had in the Cairngorms and here are two photos above improvements that prove our legacy . We never had any House Sparrows before moving in and now they are breeding here so well, these two are this years babes though they look really miserable we were so happy to see them fledge.

Then we have the Swallows the second year of breeding here, they produced two broods, on the first only one survived to fledge and the second brood started of with five and ended up fledging three, which was a very proud legacy and may they continue to come each year and multiply.

This is Blair Atholl War memorial celebrating all the soldiers that have fought for our country and on fifteenth of August Britain celebrated the V.J. Day (victory in Japan). As my wife’s father was a Japanese prisoner of war we came down to the memorial and placed a bunch of flowers from the garden on the stone and just above it was the painted pebble with “hope”written own it which we very much appreciated. Often those prisoners are regarded as from “The forgotten War” and it is about time they were not forgotten.

I have spoken of this before, but thought I would add it. Every year near the entrance to the castle , the estate puts a singular Highland cow. As the coaches are leaving their visit most of them stop and allow ( mainly the foreign visitors) to photograph the cow and the enjoyment of those visitors is clear to see .

Over the last two weeks of living in Perthshire we wanted to go back to places that we love to go for a day out , one is St Andrews and though I took my camera and carted it around all day I never really saw anything that I had not photographed and put on here before. The only shot I took all day was this weed growing up a drainpipe in between two shops. This made a statement I have heard “that a weed is only a flower growing in the wrong place” , so this was a flower because it could not have been in a better place.

Our second trip out was to Dunkeld with our favourite walk along the River Tay and back and including coffee and cake in Palmastons in the Main Street and we picked a beautiful day for it as well.

For the very last time I judged the vegetables at the church flower show and though with the weather affecting growing conditions it was a good turnout and these were the winning carrots. You will see in my mid month blog ( coming soon) why I put these in.

This was Ayr beach on the day we visited and put in an offer on this our new home, not really sea but the Firth of Forth going out to the sea, but still tidal. No I did not go for a swim.

I hope you enjoyed a final round up for Perthshire and that come the middle of this month you will enjoy our new surroundings, in East Ayrshire.

Just this one to go before it will no longer be Cairngorms Life but East Ayrshire Life, it has now been agreed that we all will move on the twenty sixth of this month

When I was younger and right up to moving here (seven moves in our married life), we were not half as stressed as we are finding this move and it is all down to technology. In the past most utilities had shops in your town or local, now everything is online or by telephone and is so much more difficult. Mainly due to security but also down to us being a technological dinasour.

For instance a one and a half hour call to (my favourite) British Telecomms, had a great guy who was very patient with this T.Rex and I made him explain every little detail in my language ( old fashioned English) not computer savvy English. Others asking for four numbered pass codes that I gave forty years ago, my iron aged relations maiden name or with an fuddled mind even my name became difficult to remember and all just for a change of address.

So I have not really ventured out much to take photographs and once I move home,I promise I will be much more active on here. As we are virtually packed three weeks before we move I am hoping I shall get some down time , to fish and go out with the camera, let’s hope. Just need to pray that all these phone calls and emails mean that when we are in the new house everything is like clockwork, which is incidentally the name of our removal company.

I am so sorry about this but I have two excuses to making this the shortest (photo wise) blog I have put up .1/ The stress of this move has kept me fairly housebound or needing to get out and enjoy a good meal somewhere. 2/ The cable between downloading the few shots I have taken to my camera has decided to pack up and my card reader is somewhere in a sealed moving box and I have no idea which one of the DOZENS littered around the house.

The three that you will see below are the only three that I had transferred into my blog library of a very adaptable Red Squirrel that has learnt how to get into a squirrel proof nut feeder.

So funny to see and it panics when it struggles to get out of the cage once had it’s feed.

Promise normal service will resume next month.

29th.

Why does moving have to be so stressful? you have worry after worry, will the money come through from the sale of your old home? Will all your “stuff” fit in the removal lorry? Will the keys to the new house be at their solicitors as promised and will you have any hold ups on your two and a half hour trip to get to said solicitors before they close at five pm? Will the people who used to own the house be packed up and gone by the time you get there? You arrive and look around the now empty house and all seems well, your son and partner turn up and you have a fish and chips supper before heading over to their place for the night, which gives you an extra boost.

But then you start worrying about the removal lorry on its long journey across Scotland, will it arrive okay. Well it did and the poor blokes had the most horrendous rain showers to unload in, but they did it with a smile. All fine house full of boxes but we are here safe and well, working hard to get as much done as possible but as we are having new carpets in both bedroom no point in unloading all the boxes only to move the contents when the carpet fitters come. Which in turn means I still have not found my card reader to download photos from the camera to put on here. so forgive me.

Was the stress worth it? I hope so we will make this a home instead of just a house and feel lucky that we seem to have a great bunch of neighbours that have all introduced themselves.

Another month gone by but the future is looking good.

AS stated last time we have accepted an offer for our house and we have had our offer accepted on a bungalow in East Ayrshire, so the move is likely to be within the next six to eight weeks and is all in the hands of everyone’s solicitors. That means my ever efficient wifee has got me working hard and packing is well under way. It does surprise me just how much we (mainly me) have accumulated over the past twenty years of living here.

The removal firm have been chosen , but we do not have a set date for us all to move, but the headache of living so remote and up a small narrow, steep road is that the removal lorry cannot get up here so a smaller van has to transfer all our “stuff” down to the village and load it into the lorry taking much longer to load up. this then means a two day removal, adding to our expenses.

I would say about a sixth of our/my rubbish has gone to the tip and my poor car knows the way to refuse centre without me having to do anything, as soon as it sees the back seats folded down and a load of junk is in it , you can hear it sigh and knows where it is off too.

All this work means that I haven’t had time for much photography so sorry for this.

24th.

Sleep is hard to come by when you have a lot on your mind, today I woke up to a near perfect dawn so by five o’clock I was up and out with the camera for a walk up the hill. and gathered these shots in absolute peace and quiet. Wonderful and a relaxing way to start the day.

Found this Hare hiding in a field a long way off and as I approached it was up and away, but I didn’t see its mate alongside it and two ran off with me not capturing the other one.

The castle nestled down in the early morning mist.

T

The herd of cows were surprised to see someone about this early and were very curious, except the bull in the last shot he just kept going around the girls chatting them all up.

Had to take some shots of wildflowers on the way home, finishing up with the national flower of Scotland the Thistle.

As I walked in our gate the sun was shining on the garden and couldn’t resist taking these two amazing Clematis in full bloom.

To finish off this months blog I just to include the sign we have been waiting to go up.

Trying to get all parties to agree a moving date of the 26th August is hard going , but hopefully it will be okay.

I have shown over twelve people around our house and am thinking of becoming a tour guide as (even if I say it myself) I am getting fairly good at it, making people relaxed and showing them all that I have now realised what a pain house viewing and selling is. So I have compassion for anyone who has to go through this harrowing experience.

Without myself and the wife support for each other, the fact that viewing is by appointment only, thus allowing “some” free time to enjoy a bit of photography and of course my fishing life would be really hard going in this stressful time.

3rd July.

Out with my 150-600 large lens , taking pictures of the local farmer cutting silage I realised with such a good distant lens it is very hard to judge just how far away from me some of the shots I take are. So below are some distant shots made closer with the lens on maximum distance and others with nearer the actual length away the shot really is.

Three shots showing the tractor at work, using the lens to make it as close as possible.

The minimum length of the lens showing a much more realistic distance it really was.

One of each of the Cairn opposite us.

The close up of the rose was so close it is not possible to get in focus.

Just found it interesting to see the advantage of a good zoom lens.

4th

Independence Day for my American friends and also gaining some independence is one of my wee Swallows.

Not sure how far off it is from fledging, but has certainly grown since I last saw it.

P.S. In fact after I took this shot it fledged that day, though we started off with three in the nest , it was in fact the only one to survive. Fully expecting the parents to start a second brood at any time.

5th.

Though it fledged it comes back to sleep each night and here it is arriving back for bedtime and………

Here it is fast asleep at ten thirty at night (yes still daylight here at that time), head tucked under it’s wing, if I perched there for the night I would surely fall out of bed.

10th.

Start of a mini heatwave here and at a temperature of twenty eight C this Dunnock knows the coolest spot is to get down into the longer grass before that man with the mower cuts it again.

12th.

I think in the twenty years we have lived here today has been our hottest day, the temperature reached a barmy thirty one degrees Centigrade and for here that is hot. I walked down to our lovely River Fender just one hundred yards below our house to suss out the water levels and temperature. Levels not great but nice and slow and well able to have a wee swim in it. So if it is this hot tomorrow I have decided (again a first since being here) I shall go for a swim to cool off.

Below are what it looked like tonight.

Looks inviting doesn’t it?

13th.

When we first moved to this house we noticed in the village that most of the older houses had House Sparrow nests in between the tiles. Yet us being just under a mile out of the village had none, so our task was to encourage them up, we had them visiting the feeders but not nesting. So I started to build Sparrow hotels (as they like to nest as a colony). Basically three Tit boxes joined together, one each end and a central one facing out. It took two years to get our first nest and that was not in the hotels but they bullied their way into a Blue Tit box, followed by an artificial House Martin bowl, until the next generation (or other birds arriving) discovered the hotel boxes. Now we have at least six breeding pairs and their calls are a feature of the property, especially when parents are feeding young. The shots below show a male having just fed the babes in the box and one of both parents with the female above waiting to get in the box with food. Not great shots, shooting into the sun on another very hot day.

P.S. have not learnt on my new P.C. how to straighten the shots yet, another task for this old brain to learn.

15th.

Just an update on the house, shown seventeen around the house and the sixteenth put in an offer that we have accepted so full steam ahead for a move.

Our house went on the market Monday 16th and over the first weekend we have had a total of ten visits, with an astonishing 23,063 (so far) people have viewed the house online. That to me shows the power of the internet, let us hope that not all of them want to view the house, especially as it is me showing them round, three a day is enough for me.

I will apologise if this is a short blog , but as you can see above , life is a bit hectic at present.

20th.

More flowers from the garden.

The holiday makers next door have been searching the internet for a type of Birch tree that has yellow tulip shaped flowers on it , having no luck in locating such a tree that came and asked what it was. It is in fact a Bill Mckenzie Clematis that has flowers going right to the top of the Birch.

Most of the Azaleas have flowered and gone over, but this orange one still has a few flowers on it.

The Clematis throughout the garden are doing well, just love the deepness of this one.

Holly is growing on with such rich colours and so soft not the angry winter plant that stabs me every time I walk past it.

Reliable Pinks always appear with no real notice of them when they are not flowering.

This is meant to be a non fruit producing miniature Strawberry, occasionally it does fruit and they are delicious.

You always hope for great Foxgloves to grow straight and tall, this one went a bit of course at the top.

The seed head off of one of the many Aquileagis in our garden.

21st.

It was so funny today the Squirrel was out in the sunshine and openly feeding from the peanut box and I got within five yards of it and started taking photos of it and progressively it got more shy and was by the time of the last shot was in hiding behind the branch.

First shot just sitting there nibbling away.

“Excuse me do you mind not filming me while I am eating”

“Well if you insist, I will just hide behind the branch”.

28th.

Went for a walk to have a bit of “me time”. in what has been a topsy turvey week. Bit early for the moorland plants but got a few.

A beautiful Orchid in the sun but a very strong wind on the open grass and this was the best shot I could get as the wind was blowing everything about.

Something, most probably a Roe Deer, took a liking to the top of this Orchard, but any least a younger one is growing beside it.

This is Cuckoo Spit and tiny creatures (nymph of Froghoppers) secrete the the froth from their bodies while feeding on the sap of the host plant (thanks Google), protecting themselves from predators.

The humble White Clover when examined is such a pretty plant.

Always fascinated by Lichen on trees, apparently it is a sign of good clean air.

My favourite little tree which regular followers will know I have photographed many times before but not from this angle. In the twenty years we have been here I do not think it has grown any bigger.

Sorry this is so short but very busy at present. Now 44,625 appearances on Rightmove. Unbelievable.

No I do not mean going out on a date I mean Wednesday the Fourth of June is a special date and I will tell you why on that day.

1st.

I know it was only a month ago that I showed you a Pine Martin but this one is a lot darker and an even bigger tail that that one , so I think that is a good enough excuse to put another one up. This one was here at eight thirty this morning and had a real good feed before scampering off, frightened a few birds and the male Blackbird was getting fairly close singing a warning song to the two newly fledged young who are feasting on the sultanas we put out for them.

A fairly rare bird to our garden ( according to my notes I have not seen one in the garden since two thousand and twenty-two) and this is a Yellowhammer. Beautiful little bird that stayed for about five minutes and I have not seen it since, lucky the wife managed to get my camera before it flew off and I got it through the double glazing.

4th.

So this is a special day because I have just looked back through my blog and I started this blog exactly eight years ago today all thanks to my daughter in law encouraging me to put my photos up onto something that all my friends can enjoy. So here it is edition number two hundred and sixty two and surprising enough I still love producing it.

Though the name may need to change soon as from this week as we have put this wonderful haven of wildlife that has been our home for twenty years, up for sale. My wife does a wonderful job of looking after our garden that as you are aware has given me some great shots to put on here. My job has been to keep this fifty year old home in good condition and as we both approach the magical eighty years old, that has become a bit to much for us. So we intend to move across to Ayrshire to be nearer our son and his partner and a bit more modern accommodation. So “Ayrshire Life” might suddenly appear on my blog.

5th.

Went for a walk today up in the hills just to see what bI could capture in a half hour walk and below are the results, first the birds I saw.

A Raven croaking away very high above me.

Then an Oyster Catcher a long way from any Oysters.

A Lapwing , there were two and they kept flying across the moorland trying to distract me from their nest , which I never saw.

Again a fair distance away but a Crow just sitting on the fence passing the time of day. The brown bird on the ground to the right I did not see until I put the photo on here, not sure if it is a female Pheasant or a Curlew just know it was brown.

Next the Deer.

On the way up the moorlands I saw this scruffy male Roe Deer, obviously just loosing it’s winter coat.

On the way back down I saw maybe half a mile away some movement, captured it on my camera to see it was a pair of deer, then ……..

Noticed that in fact there was three of them in the follow up shot.

The hillside at the moment is covered in these beautiful wild Pansies such vibrant colours.

Of course the scenery up on these moors is incredible and below are a few of the images I captured on the walk.

Not been this far along this particular path before and to come across this reminded me of a fairway on a golf course an awkward drive between the trees .

A beautiful tree with views to the distant hills.

A lonely cottage with the ruins of another building nearby, isolated, but what a retreat .

Blair Castle nestled down amongst the trees in the valley below.

12th.

A warm lovely day today, so I thought I would wonder around the garden and show you some of the many plants in the garden.

These are grasses that come up every year, except the first year we were here when we thought it was just ordinary grass and we snipped it off. The flowers individually only last a day and the fall off and another appears the next day, minute little plant but really enjoyable.

A very pale lilac Iris, growing in the pond and has been a faithful for many years.

Buttercups beside the pond that my wife says “They make me smile every time I look out the window”.

Just love the deep purple , with many more heads yet to flower.

These Primula are through out the garden and certainly give a splash of colour.

here are the seAt the top of the garden is our “mini” meadow in which there are (deliberately ) many of the parasite plant called Rattle, it kills off grass and allows wild flowers to come up which previously would have been smothered out by the grass. These are the seed heads just forming following the yellow flowers.

13th.

The Geranium’s are going to seed and the Greenfinches seem to know when they are ripe and though the plants are tall and flimsy they seem able to balance and eat them all.

14th.

A rare thing happened this morning and I apologise that the shots I have taken of it were rushed and through the double glazing with lots of reflection, but it needed recording as it has never happened before.

One on the ground, second on the feeder.

Third on the wood trough, four eating sunflower seed.

The fifth one in the mug feeder. Shocking out of focus shot but it is just for the record.

Yes we had FIVE Reds in the garden all at once, never seen more that three before so I presume that some of must be the young which are normally born Jan/Feb , such enjoyment, though they did fight for places.

As I write this on the eighteenth of the month we still have not had any rain, just bright hot sunshine. Our garden is suffering and though we use washing up water etc. it is not right to use precious water on plants. Every time we look at the long range forecast they tend to add another day to when it was meant to rain and so it goes on. As for the rivers I can see when (or if) we get any rain , they will be in spate and the Salmon sitting in the lochs and pools will just bolt up the rivers and not stop until they reach their spawning grounds. To add to that where there is normally a flow of water through the field in front of the house that is dry, therefore nor supplying mud for the Swallows to build up their nests and they are having to go further a field to find some.

16th.

Sat by the pond today and had to rush in and get the camera as this Dragonfly decided to pay us a visit, very bright sun was a real headache to get the shots but such a beautiful creature when you can zoom in and get shots like these.

17th.

This is the extent of the cloud cover for the last month, blue skies and fluffy cloud occasionally. Most overnight temperatures have been down around zero Centigrade but with the sun already risen by four am it is warm when we get up.

It has been a great year for the Gorse bushes as illustrated in one of my neighbours garden, such a bright, rich yellow.

21st.

Day of my birthday and we had a trip out, started in Dunkeld for a coffee and captured the entrance to the hotel turret covered in ivy which looked great in the sunshine.

Followed by a visit to an RSPB reserve at Loch Kinnordy, where I managed a couple of decent shots of the Osprey and a Tree Sparrow with two Damselflies in its mouth about to feed babes in it’s nearby nest. Then off for a lovely meal at The Drovers Inn, a great day out.

24th

Went over to my sons in Ayrshire , just the same as last year it worked out it was the Saturday of the village gala. Bet none of you know what the first car on display is, apparently there are only two imported into this country and the ugliness of the back of it is most probably the reason why (answer in the next blog). You also might struggle with the second which I believe was a kit car?

The wee bird is a Screech Owl and of course a Barn Owl to follow. The display was a this guy with a Border Collie that rounded up the Indian Runner Ducks without any commands, incredible intelligent dog.

P.S. The rain started today just in time for the show.

30th

Our two Swallows sitting on the power line discussing the progress of their nest at our front door, I can tell them, “it is nearly ready to lay some eggs”, “please”.

So good to have our summer sheep back in the field in front of the house, this is them getting the best spot at the top of the field before settling down for the night, the higher they ago the lesser the midges eating them alive.

To add to the P.S. above it has not stopped raining everyday since the twenty fourth so the ground is getting refreshed, trouble is looks like it will be the same for the next two weeks.

Sigh.