We are blessed with a wide range of wildlife in our garden & surrounding fields, mostly I encourage many species of birds, which I will cover when I have gathered enough photos of them. Well I have enough shots, but, would prefer to take them within the week that I post about them, so they will show what is about at the time.
Today I was sitting in my homemade hide that I have constructed out of some camouflage netting one of my sons gave me for Fathers day, when along came one of the 4 Red Squirrels that a frequent visitors to their feeding box & peanut holders that are scattered around the garden. They normally are fairly used to us & if we approach them they will only leave at the last possible moment hoping we go elsewhere.
The photos above are the ones that I took today, the first is it(not sure of sex) eating a peanut, second, coming out of the feeding box, with a peanut in it’s mouth & lastly all you see as he disappears in for it’s food.
Wednesday nights is (throughout the year) Table Tennis night in the village hall. We are a dedicated small bunch, in the summer we play just for fun & fitness, with an average of about 8 to 10 turning up. Of course this is holiday time & our numbers do fluctuate, but last night we had a father & son Dutch pair come & join us, who were good players. When the son arrived with his own bat & a set of balls in a case, we knew he may be fairly good. So 10 of us last night, with drawn pairs playing doubles against each other, the Dutch father & one of the regulars won that & then we had a knockout singles, which yours truly won. Such good fun, with all ages playing & all abilities, none of us getting upset if we win or lose, just a way of keeping fit & being part of the community.
We decided that having holiday makers in was an added bonus ( as well as adding funds to the village hall restoration), so we are going to put a notice up each week advertising that all are welcome, as we can provide enough bats & balls for all & with 3 tables we should get plenty of games in. Above is a photo of some of last nights “competitors”.
In the winter (when it is mainly locals playing T/T things do get a bit more serious with every week being a bit more competitive, with huge prizes every week (well a small bar of chocolate actually), culminating in a finals week with china cups for the winners.
I think that as a village we lay a fair bit on for locals & visitors in the summer. we have an outdoor bowls green, 2 or 3 Family Fun nights ( though last years were all called off because of bad weather), these include archery , slow bike races, tractor rides, a clown , Segway riding & fly casting. Plus the church flower show & sale of work, a marque behind the chippy with live music at weekends & of course the Highland Games at the castle. So we are very active, even if it does normally come down to the “same old faces” providing these events.
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What a difference a day makes, yesterday 27C, today 13C with the threat of rain all afternoon, oh well that is Scotland for you.
Jan & I try to stay as fit as 70 year olds can, she does her 10,000 steps daily, I go to the gym twice a week & we walk down to the village every other day or so. Now when I say walk DOWN to the village it is a steep walk down, but so much steeper climbing back up. Of course there has to be some form of incentive to do this 3 mile walk & in the summer it is The Mill. No I am not related or have any financial interest in this wonderful establishment, apart from the owner being a fishing buddy. But if you are travelling in either direction on the A9, do not bother stopping at The Bruar (Harrods of the North), come into Blair & find the Mill.
It is a fully working watermill that grinds it’s own flour, bakes wonderful bread, cakes & the coffee is good also. Rami the owner (describes himself as “the only Jew in the village”) won the Scottish finals in an ITV bakers challenge contest a few years back & will feature in the present series on BBC 2 with Nadia the Bake off champion.
So we walk down have our treat & walk back up our long hill. Today was a bonus for on the way up I picked a large number of wild Gooseberries & some wild Strawberries, just to fuel the engine to get up the hill.
Below is a picture of The Mill. Please feel free to make any comments about my blog. Dave
Hi all, It has taken me a while to submit my first blog, but at 70 years old I don’t think that it is that bad, as I am no computer expert.
I live with my wife on the southern edge of the Cairngorms National Park, near the village of Blair Atholl, which in itself is a great place to live. But we live up in the hills out of the village in the most idyllic spot you could imagine. Well that is if you like wildlife , remoteness & no street lights, which of course we do.
Above photos are the view from our front door, first looking S.W. the second W. As you can see my first post is on a rare, bright, sunny morning.
Hopefully on this blog I will show you what it is like to live in such a cracking area of the U.K. & some of the nature, be that birds & animals , or, our weather, which can change 3 or 4 times a day.
I love my photography (though still a learner) & will try to include as many shots as possible of here & surrounding area . Also as many village activities that I am involved in, as although we look a sleepy community, village life is hectic.
Hope you will join me in what I hope will be an adventure for me & yourselves.
