The local fishing club stops fishing at the end of this month and if my old back allows me I intended to fish the allowed once per week for the next two and a bit weeks. Today we woke up to find a heavy frost and overnight temperature down to minus two and a half C, meaning that the fish will be just sitting on the bottom of the lochan not wanting to move or eat, so I have just got to hope that the temperature does not stay this low for long, or I might have fished our club waters for the last time this season.
16th.
I guess I should clear my garage and start putting the car away to stop my windscreen looking like this.
I guess the high voltage cable is a bit warmer that sitting in the trees for the Pidgeon and Collar Doves.
20th.
Well we have survived (so far) Storm Babet though my afternoon table tennis session yesterday was a no no for me as the A9 was blocked with a tree down over both carriageways so I had to turn back. When I was stopping cars from going up the slipway a half inch diameter twig came through the car window and struck my arm that was when I knew I should not have ventured out. What it has done is to encourage birds into our garden and eat more than normal including flocks of Redwings, though as you will see below they are hiding from my lens with the exception of the one I captured through the double glazing on the conifers.
Even the Wren was sheltering from the wind.
The hawthorn tree is where the Redwings are eating but when the Sparrowhawk comes a calling every bird in the garden goes into the thicket of the tree as shown in the three shots above. In fact in the dense conifer below the birds was where the Sparrowhawk was perched, fully frustrated that there would be know way he could capture any of these birds. Knowing this he did not move until the Red Squirrel came crashing through the conifer and he was off.
23rd.
Started this blog with the heading “getting colder”, overnight we dropped to minus five C and I took the shots below at minus three at ten this morning when it was still minus three. Love the effect it has on these frosty shots.
30th.
Walked down to the village today along the River Tilt, a beautiful in the sunshine and not to cold, the colours were unbelievable.
Those of you who watched the recent series called Annika, about a police officer in the water section, may remember a murder by a sluice gate on a river. That sluice gate is a third of the way in this shot in the middle, lots of the filming was around the village.
The river from off the road bridge.
This image suits my sense of humour, Not Mush-room for the Oak sapling to grow here.
31st
I started this blog showing how cold it was, well overnight on the last day of this blog it went even colder overnight temperature of minus six C . Still haven’t put the car away yet.
A couple more shots from this morning.
November tomorrow, going to Enchanted Forest tonight so the new blog will have shots from that, if they turn out better than the first lot I took at the beginning of the month on press night.
I know on this particular blog each year I have loads of Enchanted Forest shots for you, well this year I had had no insight into what the show would be like as I hadn’t been in on much of the build as my work was done pre build. So came to press night with totally the wrong photographic equipment, entirely my fault and will have to join the thousands of people on a normal night instead of the mid hundreds on press night to get my shots. I know all you with modern phones will be saying “I can get brilliant shots with my three lens phone”, but I like getting photos with my camera even if half of them are not anywhere as good as yours. So “hopefully” on my next visit I will get things right and will put some on the blog. Unfortunately the people who purchased tickets for the first weekend were disappointed as the show had to be cancelled due to the terrible forty eight hour deluge of rain that we had. I have some shots to show you of the havoc it caused throughout Scotland including our county.
10th
Some shots of our watering hole The Mill. From this first one it looks so calm .
If the sluice gate was open this small amount on a normal day no water would run down the mill race on the left, let alone over the side of the lade as you can see on the right.
This is the lade leading to the sluice up at least by a foot and flowing fast. This at least enabled the miller to grind some wheat for the bread and he took full advantage by getting in a full supply to keep them going.
This was the River Tilt on the same day and though this was a good eight hours below its highest level it is still one of the highest I have seen.
Looking down from the the road bridge the buttresses were doing their job but the back current was something else.
I hope this portrays the power of the water, plus the fact the roar was deafening .
9th.
Went to Perth today and over that green bank on the right of the shot is the RiverTay. The flooding here is normally well controlled by huge metal flood gates which are placed in strategic places along the river to prevent the city being flooded. At present with all the warning that the Met Office gave out the council is being blamed for not shutting the gates early enough. this is the football and rugby pitches in the North Inch park and in this and the following shot you can see in the background more water being pumped into this “lake” by the Fire Service due to the fact it flooded the road and houses over that far side hundreds of yards from the river.
A mile or so from the city the river becomes tidal and most of the devastation was caused when the river was at high tide so all the freshwater was held back by the tide. to think the river water from our small River Fender goes into the Tilt, followed by the Garry onto the Tummel and into The Tay coming from Loch Tay and beyond, a fair few gallons of water causing this destruction.
11th.
Some shots from within our garden of the Autumn colours coming through. This is the Azalea’s showing off their rich coloured leaves.
Would not be me if I didn’t show you the annual shot of the Maple.
By the pond.
Heuchera looking splendid in it’s creamy colours.
Plenty of Rowan berries for the birds this winter, is this a sign of a bad Winter? Some say yes.
Rowan leaf about to drop.
Heathers are looking good throughout the garden.
More berries, I hope these will attract the Fieldfare and Redwings.
View down to the Maple, though with the strong wind we have today most of the Silver Birch leaves have blown off it is still very colourful.
15th.
Yes we are just into Autumn and yes it is only mid October, but we had our first sprinkle of snow today. The first shot is the higher Munro’s up the glen that had a bit more than the one in the second shot that we can see from the house, which only had an icing sugar dusting.
Shots North and South from the Garry Bridge, wires on the North shot show the zip wires that were in use today, see below.
I have now received my new (secondhand) replacement gear for that that was stolen, identical camera Canon 7d Mk2, 10-18 lens and my favourite a nifty fifty, both such versatile lens that I am so comfortable with using. I have not had much time to go out with it but as soon as it arrived I went out to try it all out and that is the sole content for this second half of September.
Hydrangea in the late afternoon sun.
Every year these give such a great late show.
Second flowering on the Lupin.
Love taking shots of Lichen.
The time of the year for Heathers in Scotland.
Perhaps my favourite a shady Fern.
I promise more for October especially as Enchanted Forest is on.
So this week was the first day of metrological Autumn, plus the pupils are all back in school , so what do we get but the best weather since June. Typical. Though the plants were unaware the weather was going to be this good and seed heads are looking great, so they think it is Autumn, Got up a bit earlier than normal and just went along the roadside verge and took a few snaps.
9th.
I think there is nothing better than a head of Thistle seeds, that is until they land in my garden.
Who remembers making weapons out of these seed heads? Fold the top of the stem over and pull the other end and they would fire off.
No wonder there are so many Dock plants around with this number of seeds per stem.
last years pine cones getting ready for Christmas decorations.
Seeds ready to go
Gorse seed already gone or waiting to go.
Unfortunately the above shots are all that you will get on this first half of the months blog . The main reason I am (as Rodney on Fools and Horses would say) a right plonker. Needed to go into Edinburgh for the day, parked in the Park and Ride, put my camera case on the roof of the car, closed the boot, locked the car and went off to the bus. Left my camera with a couple of lenses on the car and when we got back it had been stolen, No cctv and not handed in , just taken by an opportunist thief. So therefore I have been unable to show you any new photographs.
Have tried the insurance route but again I have only now learned what a plonker I really am. I have never kept any receipts, as soon as the receipt has checked off on the credit card that is the end of it. So without proof of purchase they insurance will not pay out, so don’t be like me . All expensive purchases keep the receipts, photograph the item and note the serial number. Apparently there is so much fraudulent claims about these days you very seldom get your money without them.
I have ordered excellent conditioned second hand from a reliable company and as they are available in different shops throughout Britain their Edinburgh branch is gathering them together , Camera, two different lens, memory cards (new) and lens filters, so should get going again in seven days or so.
Yes I do have withdrawal symptoms lets hope the shaking stops when I use my new gear.
Now one of our sons lives in Ayrshire instead of Sheffield we get a few more trips away for weekends. A bit closer and easier to get to (the exception being the M8 through Glasgow, which I hate), so I always leave far to early, but we then have another excuse to walk the sea/estuary front in Ayr. Parking on the front and walking up as far as the River Doon is a smashing little walk with plenty to see, as you will see in the next few shots.
A mixture of Redshank and Turnstones taking advantage of the low tide, though a few had their heads tucked under their wings having a wee snooze.
A Red Breasted Merganser a first for me to see.
A mixture of Swans, Gulls and the above birds all congregated near the River Doons mouth, every other time we have walked along this stretch we have seen the Kestrel, but not today.
Also along the front was a couple of areas of a wildflower meadow which was so colourful on a fairly dull day.
20th.
When possible I try and get a wee fish on this lovely Loch Loch Belston, today I was down at the water at the unthinkable hour of seven in the morning to get three hours in before the household were up and breakfasted. Took a boat out to roughly the far side of the picture and fished solid, but not even a sniff of a fish, on the last two occasions I have gone home with two three pound fish and a happy chappy. No fish but so good to be out in a boat, doing what I love and all to myself for the first two hours, wonderful. But to top it all, after the flower show (below) the family were chilling for the afternoon, I was “allowed” to have another two hours out in a boat. No fish, but, I had a visitor for fifteen minutes, sometimes flying right over my head, scouring the water, with no success (just like me) a young Osprey. What a thrill, only trouble was I never had my camera with me.
Once home and changed we all went out for coffee followed by a visit to Ayr Racecourse, not to watch the horses but to attend the Ayr Flower Show. below are some off the flower arrangement contestants efforts.
24th.
Back home and just to prove I can catch fish (occasionally) went to our club water and caught this beautiful wild Brown Trout weighing in at one and three quarter pounds, a good size for a wild Brownie and very tasty it will be.
26th.
I have shown similar shots in previous years but this is the annual queue to get into Blair Castles Horse International Show, I will try to find out the attendance over the three days but it is a large number of people attending and causes chaos on the A9 and roads within the village. First shot is coming off the A9 into the village and the second (which is equal in distance from the previous shot) is the end of the queue as they go the half mile up the drive to the castle reckon that short journey takes twenty minutes.
27th.
This year has been a good year for breeding Collar Doves and as I put the morning seed out the doves are nowhere to be seen, within two minutes of carrying that out eight , sometimes ten doves are down feeding . Either in the three troughs or the cups which are intended for the smaller birds, the doves on the cups is always amusing as they have a job to balance as illustrated below.
Parent in the middle and two youngsters each side.
“This cup is mine”
Cannot sit on this one so a balancing act is required.
29th.
Some type of Daisy growing in a pot, as you come around the corner of the house there is this plant full of these beautiful blooms, cheers you up in this miserable so called summer.
31st.
Just thought I would finish this month off with some of our flowers still looking good in the garden despite the dull, wet, cold month this has been.Just loved the flies meeting up on the last shot.
This was a saying my mother would often say to me when I had done something in a hurray and mucked it up. Well it was never truer than with the last blog. I thought “well nothing else is on the cards for this month, so I might as well publish now, four days early” and what happened quite a bit as it happens, so I will start August blog of at the end of July. Also from the last blog, I should have checked my facts re if any of the village flower displays had ever been stolen, apparently one of those half barrels, complete, was stolen back in two thousand and twenty, never to be found.
29th.
My hawkeyed wife spotted this Hare about fifty yards from the house tucked down in the thistles, thought it was amusing that it gave me two bookend shots , asking “which is my good side?”.
30th
It is very unusual to hear aircraft low around us on a Sunday morning, unless it is the local Laird up in one of his planes that I have shown you before. But this morning the distinct sound of a helicopter ( a Coastguard one) flying low down the glen. It hovered a bit over the village, but then I thought it had gone along the same route as the A9 heading towards Pitlochry. In fact it had landed near the village and it wasn’t until an hour later I heard it start up again. Rushed to a spot that looks down on the village and after some delay it took off as seen in the first shot. We presumed that it had picked up a casualty and was heading of to the Trauma Centre in Dundee, but no, it headed to the top of the hill known as Tulloch Hill and landed (as in shots two and three) . Only then (last shot) did it head towards Dundee. Not sure at present what happened but will update you when I know. (Update. It was a training exercise)
2nd.
About three years ago the fences on the edge of the field was renewed and at first I couldn’t understand why they put a double fence in and then a few weeks later the estate planted a hedge. The gap in the hedge stopped looking bare the following summer, but did seem very slow growing. This year I suddenly noticed that it is thriving and a good variety of bushes/shrubs growing in it, Birch, Rowan& Hawthorn at least.
Here you can see the full length of it, looks good and healthy.
Walked down to our River Fender as they have just extracted some of the gravel from the spot in the shot above, following the section in a previous blog about the gold prospectors I wondered if it might be worth doing some panning?
The two plants above were growing along side the river, the purple one I recognise as Knapweed but the other one I had to put on my photographic forum to ask what it was as I thought it was just a different type of Hogweed. The general feeling is it is wild Angelica, shall have to go and smell it to see.
Very much a snatch shot, wrong lens etc. but I have never seen a spider with a fluorescent yellow body and the brown legs. No idea what it is may try and find it on a site on the net. P.S. Looked it up could be the Cucumber Green Spider.
10th.
We have a drystone wall along the front of our house which is our border from our property to the Atholl Estates field in front of us and unfortunately part of that wall has blown and was in danger of collapsing. Today I had a company called Drystone Walling Perthshire come and have a look, Martin the boss gave me a price and as he had one of his workers (Nathan) with him he offered to start it right away as they had finished the previous job early. Below is the story of the reconstruction.
This was the state of the wall before work commenced, a three metre long by one and a half metre high section of wall needed rebuilding.
End of the half day wall demolished.
By the end of day two the wall was completed, nothing but praise for the standard of hard work and craftmanship shown by Nathan. Such skill I just have to keep going down and admiring it, makes the rest of the wall look shabby and most important for us was the way the company just were so efficient, cannot recommend them high enough. To top it all they were a very reasonable price.
18th.
What do I do when I wakeup early and cannot get back to sleep? Sneak out of bed, get dressed and go for a walk with my camera of course. So that is what happened this morning, could see the mist was all about (more like an Autumn morning than the middle of August) so started to take a few shots the above two were the best of the shots.
Come the evening and I look out the window and a most unusual sunset, so many colours from one view point, so again picked up the camera and took a few shots through the glass window (to lazy to go out) and below were the shots to illustrate what I saw.
That’s us back, hope you enjoyed the trip away from the Cairngorms within my camera lens at least. Back with a stinker of a cold that I just cannot shift (though of course the wife got over fine) and so many jobs lined up for me, wish we were back in N.Y.
What a change in temperature as well, going from the heights of high twenty C to up to thirty three one day down to mid teens and rain, rain and more rain. Just to show you on our return this was our view.
15th.
A real good thunderstorm rattling around the glens for hours, in between the rain I had to cut our grass with my air rifle in hand in case any Tigers jumped out of the long grass. 🙂
18th.
Every thing in our garden has grown over the past sixteen days we were away, most of the garden is a jungle and I am certain that many a sack will be going to the compost heap at the local tip before long. But I must admit some of the flowers out are stunning and attracting all sorts of insects including a lot of the above butterflies. Especially pleased that the Rattle has gone to seed and if it ever stops raining we may be able to distribute some seeds into the top patch of lawn plus two of my neighbours are desperate for some to spread on the wildflowers banks. Love the white Foxglove as well.
23rd.
Went down to Loch Dunmore for a club committee meeting and just happened to go down early with my camera. Would love as many pounds as the number of times the boathouse has been photographed lovely little building.
Just loved this little conifer growing in an old tree where a seed has fallen into some moss and taken root.
Took the shot along the Northern section of the loch, the lilies are not quite out yet but the trees are so green, with one each side fallen in the water, hoping Forestry Scotland will remove them soon.
Most probably the species of bird that as a chick is the ugliest, a baby Moorhen. One of three out on the lilies.
24th.
One thing that has grown within our village is the flower displays beside the road all the way through the village, here is a collection of them all.
As you enter the village this is the first one you see, fascinates me that the rake, tub and wheelbarrows are not locked down , but never get stolen,
All these above are beside the road on entering the village.
This one is in the triangle beside the road leading up to our house a mile further on.
Beside the mill race and village hall.
The entrance to the village hall adds a bit of colour to it.
This last one beside the entrance to the caravan park.
Takes a lot of attending to, but well worth all their effort.
P.S. over thirty sacks of garden rubbish taken to the compost heap so far.
Went over on the ferry from Manhattan to Governors Island, a place stopped in time (except for the food stalls and landscaping) with no permanent residents living the beautiful old houses and fortress etc. In previous blogs I have included these houses and mainly took shots across the water today. A very hot day but an enjoyable one.
you embark in Manhattan is right next to the Staten Island Ferry terminal and this ferry left just before us. Sightseeing wise it is the cheapest way to get close to the Statue of Liberty, most people do not get off the ferry at Staten Island and just turn round and go back.
Here we are approaching the docking station on the island.
The classic shot taken from the island looking over to the Manhattan skyline.
Occasionally you come across an art installation on the island such as this one. A group of mirrors into a cylindrical tunnel that gives you a different angle of the surrounds including me as the photographer.
Some rather expensive yachts came sailing by, no doubt looking for a place on the East River to moor up and watch the fourth of July fireworks.
Just to show you how close the ferries get to the statue.
The gateway into New York from the Atlantic, many a ship has come into New York through this gap, including immigrants from all over the world.
Just like an entertainer “Always finish with a laugh”, I just thought of people phoning up to make an appointment to use the loo.
6th.
Went to the most famous photographic shop in America maybe even the world, ask most travelled photographers have they been to B&H and the reply would be yes. I have never been to New York without going, often not buying anything but occasionally having a small spend up. A lens I have had since owning my camera was getting a bit weak at its top end of distant shots so I replaced that with a second hand one in excellent condition and a bit more modern. I immediately put in on my camera and these next few shots are using it and to show its versatility.
The iconic NY water tower was my first ever shot with the new lens.
Walked home via the Highline and this very bright tree was along the walk.
Cannot take a walk without spotting and photographing flowers.
Looking down onto a back yard and someone had placed this there.
7th.
Today we went back to the U.N. building after a gap of fifty four years, which was the first time we visited New York. The memory box in my head is not that great but I did remember some parts of it. had an hour long tour with a very informative and enthusiastic guide. Here are just a few of the many shots I took.
One of the many pieces of art that fill the gardens and interior of the buildings.
The entrance doors into the main building where many famous people have walked through and where many thousands of tourists go through every day, yet I bet half of them do not notice the detail on these bronze panels on each door. Here are the three on the door I went through, I think they are all the same.
I think they represented peace, love and justice.
Nelson Mandela just as you enter waiting to greet you.
One of the assembly rooms where a youth Human Rights summit had just finished for lunch.
The view through a window of the East River and Roosevelt Island.
The main assembly hall where the world leaders make the big decisions.
8th.
A hot, humid day but we decided to go up to Central Park with the shade of the trees to compensate, so here are a few shots from there.
Some beautiful statues within the park, many I have shown you on previous trips, this was a new one for me, a Husky dog with the plaque stating without these dogs much of the American wilderness would have been undiscovered for years.
Many roads cross the park and many are under passed by tunnels for pedestrians, nature takes advantage of this, on most of the light fittings House Sparrows have built their nests in their usual untidy manner.
Though fairly busy the park is so vast it is never overcrowded and the shade of the trees is wonderful.
This particularly large underpass is a favourite for musicians, not only is it cool but also for the acoustics
.
From within the underpass.
So good to see that people were not getting into the fountain and that plants are allowed to grow.
The colour of the boating lake water left a lot to be desired and it was full of fairly large turtles that I would think could give you a good nip.
9th.
Sunday and off for brunch at our favourite restaurant.
Crossing Third Avenue
This striking new glass building on our way is a building built and belonging to the NYU and I adored it, so many different shapes and angles, my shots do not do it full justice, love it.
Now for the meal at Perry Street, just across from the Hudson River.
This is the wife’s favourite and she has this every time, Calamari with a Yuzu dipping foam, delicious
My starter, a raw tuna coated in a crisped up rice cracker with a cream sauce.. so good.
The shots of the burger were not brilliant so I will finish on my unbelievable dessert.
Strawberry Pavlova with a olive oil and lemon sorbet on top, indescribably delight.
Off to Dumbo today on our last full day, will blog those shots on our return to the U.K.
11th.
Dumbo is a part of Brooklyn and has a lovely park right on the rivers edge and is large enough to absorb loads of people without feeling crowded, okay around the retail sections it gets very busy , but a stroll through the park is most enjoyable. The above shot shows Manhattan downtown on the right East River in the foreground and out to “The Statue” where the Hudson & East River join. On the left is Governors Island.
Of course the rivers are not free of debris and rubbish, the three shots above are a clear example of that I can assure you none of the shots were staged , the chair, the rubber clog and the champagne and football were exactly where you see them.
We took the ferry back across to Manhattan and the pilots of the ferries have to be so good , as transport like the above container barge (being propelled by the tug along side) are very frequent on this busy river. The other shot is of the boats that I showed you from the land in the previous blog.
We got off the ferry at the Wall Street jetty and walked up Wall St to get to our favourite restaurant, this is the N.Y. Stock Exchange building, just a symbol now for trade as it is all done online now and only the daily bell is rung here to denote end of trading.
Before getting an Uber to our sons apartment we went for our last meal on the third floor of this building overlooking the Peace Garden. As the name says on the building it is a large retail store selling every Italian food in a shop with a large dining area attached, with some of the best Italian meals you can eat, hence the name Eataly, so clever. They have another store in Chelsea Market, but we love this one.
This is my wife’s favourite dish, just well cooked spaghetti in a cheese sauce with black pepper. Presented in a very special way, The pasta , plain sauce and pepper are placed in the middle of a huge full round of cheese, comes to your table like that and the waiter swirls the pasta around inside the cheese until sufficient cheese has stuck to the pasta, such theatre.
13th
Well that is us home now, suffering from jet lag something terrible, but getting into a routine, though it is hard to go from temperatures in the high twenties( plus one day at thirty three C) while here today we are at sixteen it is a bit different. I guess that is what holidays are for.
This blog starts on the 27th of June as that was the day we set off for our two week break in New York with our son and daughter in law, well it nearly wasn’t the start. Due to thunderstorms in NY our flight was cancelled , luckily our son was notified by the airline in the evening their time while we were notified when asleep. So he booked us on the afternoon flight instead of the morning one. The airport was in chaos but after a two and a half hour extra delay we set off, not in the seats my son had got for us , but in separate rows, but at least on our way.
As you can imagine with me and my camera it has been red hot (along with the weather) taking loads of photos and for this reason you may well get many post in this first half of the month instead of the usual one. so I do hope I don’t bore you to much.
29th June.
Our favourite thing that we never tire of is to walk along the Hudson River Path and Park. Imagine you have the Hudson on your right full of boat traffic, a beautiful wide, clen pathway in the middle and different shaped gardens full of flowers and shrubs on your left, with a gentle breeze calling you down just a tad. The theme for this section is some of the many flowers that I photographed in a mile and a half walk. The delightful thing is that most of the flowers you will recognise from your own gardens, we did.
Though these flowers were a theme I followed along the way, of course there was other sights to see that I also photographed. so just a few to finish this day off.
Washington Square fountain with this guy just sitting there on his phone in the cool of the spray.
While crossing the three laned dual carriageway, with all the traffic stopped I was able to grab this shot of the World Trade Centre that replaced the twin towers.
Words that echo what I think about all you that read my blog.
The odd shaped tower fascinated me, especially if you look half way up on the right hand edge someone out on their balcony.
When my dad worked in NY some fifty odd years ago and I was a young firefighter I went on a tour of fire stations and even went on board this old fire boat, not in service now of course but good for the old memory box.
In one of the gardens is this very green pond teeming with goldfish and sat on the wire protecting the lilies was this Heron, not bothered by all the tourists photographing it.
30th.
Our plans today were scuppered a bit due to the air pollution, the visibility was low because the smoke from the forest fires way off in the north of Canada were travelling down the East coast and affecting us. In some places you could actually smell the smoke. So I will show you some examples of it.
We were intending to go to Governors Island in the background of this shot, mainly because you can gather some great shots of Manhattan, not today.
Even the Statue was hard to see compared with the shot yesterday.
Of course this didn’t affect the tourist helicopters from taking people out.
A large ship going under the Brooklyn Bridge.
Will close with this shot, I know this has only been two days of the holiday and can assure you the following blogs will not be this long or frequent.
So far as June starts we have had glorious weather, day seven of the month and everyday the temperature has gone up above twenty degrees C , the night temps have still been cold , but days like these are great. Garden is suffering but when you are on private water supply you just do not know just how much water to use on plants as one of these days with global warning we may not be able to cope.
2nd.
Got the moth trap out last night and it was very successful, had a load of small brown jobbies that are a job to identify, so I tend to just set them free and concentrate on the larger more easier to identify. So here are a few of what I caught. The above is a White Ermine.
These two are probably the most attractive I get regularly in the trap, they are Small Elephant Hawk moths.
When I let them go one settled on this plant, look how well they blend in so well camouflaged if it wasn’t for the white legs and antennae you would have a job to see it.
These two, as much as I looked through my book and on an app, I could not identify them, maybe one of you can help me out here?
7th.
Went for a walk today beside Loch Moraig, parked my car above the main car park which is hidden in the dip below these walkers. I took the shot as I presumed with an instructor they were going to climb the Munro Carn Liath (which is the distant path in front of them) and some of them were thinking “that looks a long hike to me in this heat, shall I make it?”
Plenty of birds in and around the Loch, just captured these Geese above the cows, coming into land.
Spotted this baby Pied Wagtail on the rocks , had to keep low to avoid it flying off, hence the blurred vegetation in front of it.
Of course not far away was one of the parents keeping a close eye on me and the youngster.
Not a great shot of a flying Heron , but the shot is a hard crop as it was a long way off.
8th.
For three days now we have had Army Air Corp Apache helicopters out of Leuchars airfield make low level flying over us. First day I didn’t have my camera set up for such an event, second day I was ready and got the first image, third day I was out in the garden with my camera on the back door step and achieved the shot I wanted (the second shot). on the last two occasions we actually got the guy in the back to wave at us and so low we could see him laughing. Hope you enjoy, I certainly did.
10th.
Okay, I have shown you plenty of Pine Martin shots, but this is a first. Actually managed to not take a shot through the double glazing of the living room window. It came at seven forty five in the morning and though I was still in my dressing gown I got the camera and sneaked out the back door and slowly advanced towards the feeding box. The first shot was taken through the garden flowers from a distance of twelve yards and well crouched down. I slowly advanced every time it put it’s head into the box until I got to within six yards and took the second shot, which I am well pleased with.
11th
I thought this might become a pattern for the pine martin so I set up my portable hide and got up bright and early, sat in the hide for an hour, no sign of the beast so took a few of our garden birds close up instead.
Collard Dove
Hen Sparrow.
Female chaffinch
Male Chaffinch.
To complete the trio one of their babies.
Male Blackbird
Baby Blackbird
All taken from this hide.
15th.
Had an interesting week with the people staying in the self catering let next door to us, four men staying in the cottage and another four or six within the group staying in motor homes in the lay-by close by. They were from a group of enthusiast amateur gold prospectors, going each day to separate known streams that gold had been found in before and either snorkelling and fanning and turning over rocks, or actually panning for gold. So far most have found gold in one form or another, some just dust or flour as they call it as in shot one. Or the champion of the week this guy (in shot two) who has found nuggets by just diving/snorkelling and fanning the water, as he puts not disturbing nature to much. in the file is gold and believe it or not silver. He got the silver out of a fairly local river and two fairly big nuggets within the Cairngorms. The gold and silver weighed in at seven grams and is worth one hundred pounds per gram,so not a bad weeks pleasure.
and here is his pot of gold, plus the silver.
One of the guys has made a You Tube treasure hunt. He has hidden pots of gold throughout Scotland and with clues people are finding them, there are at least two in this area one in Glen Coe and the other on Schiehallion, so that could be fun for younger visitors to the area, his sight is Faeriegold.
