East Ayrshire Life

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.

I realise that the rest of the U.K is experiencing hot, dry weather but for it to go on this long in the Highlands and no rain for the past three weeks at least, is simply unheard of up here. At least for this time of the year. This of course also means the hay fever has started and my eyes are affecting my photography a bit as you really cannot look through a view finder with watery eyes.

10th.

I make no excuses about putting some more pictures of The Kelpies as we went back there today it is so photographic that I could easily put ALL the photos I took today but then you would be on the blog for a long time, so here are a few.

The water around The Kelpies is the Forth and Clyde canal and goes onto the Falkirk Wheel which is another wonderful attraction that I must return to one day.

Though a large number of visitors the place never seems overcrowded.

Looking up shows the size and complexaty of the statues,

From the car park it looks like the left model is grazing while the right fends off any intruders.

I have shown you before that there are two to scale models of the Kelpies and beside them is this simple model to show you a size comparison.

13th.

No blog would be complete without showing off the garden flowers in bloom.

The rest of the Azaleas are coming to their peak and smelling wonderful.

The Azaleas from by the car looking up the garden.

Forget -Me -Nots are all over the garden, self seeded and my wife’s favourite. The old bench well in the shade is welcome in this heat.

The pond is low and the worst algae for years, the greenery in the front of this bed is mainly small Geraniums, yet to bloom fully, but the seed heads after that are the Greenfinches favourite. The Goldfish in the pond are spawning, two males chasing the one female all day long, poor thing.

The front lawn is a bit sorry for itself, the dry hot weather is holding it back a bit.

Now the moment I have been waiting for all Winter, and I have simply called this shot………

YES.

It would have been good to have had last years parents rung, to have known if this was them returning.

14th.

Had an early evening visit from the Pine Martin and I was able to sneak outside to get my shots instead of through the double glazing of the lounge window. Every time it put it’s head into the peanut box I crept closer until I was about eight metres away and the middle shot shows when it at last was aware I was there, not long after that it scampered off. The last shot was when it was eating and I managed this slightly blurred image to show the size of its teeth. Bit like me a quick eater.

15th.

The Swallows are constantly visiting the two artificial nests all day at the moment and these two are definitely a pair as not long after the picture of them both I saw (didn’t get a shot away I am afraid) them mating on the wire. It does look in this shot that the left hand bird is looking at the right and the righthand one is totally ignoring it. Must be the female on the right avoiding advances. 🙂 They really enjoy sitting on the power cables.

What am I anticipating? On the seventeenth of this month last year the Swallows arrived after their long migration from Africa and decided to nest on our house in the artificial nest I had erected for them, so I am hoping in the next few days they will be at my house. I went fishing yesterday (eighteenth ) and saw a pair at a farm building so though they are a bit late with us I do hope they turn up.

Though I apologies for the branch obstructing a good shot (now moved) I found this shot funny of a Red Squirrel entering a new peanut box with just it’s backside and tail hanging out.

14th.

Bleary eyed on opening the curtains captured the low lying mist in the glen with totally the wrong settings on my camera , hence the grainy appearance, so not the best of shots but a peaceful and beautiful sight.

Normally two Squirrels this close to each other would cause a territorial battle, but these two were fine, so I presume they are related in some way and both happy with the food on offer. Though this harmony was disrupted later when a third one came along and it was chased off to go feed a bit further away on another feeder.

22nd.

Is there anything more Spring like than looking out your kitchen window and seeing the sight of our native Primroses blooming their hearts off, giving a fluorescent glow off their beautiful flowers?

23rd.

The anticipation I thought had arrived this morning early, but these are not Swallows but House Martins. A total of five were investigating the artificial nest above the bedroom window. The pictures are not great as I had to stand back from the window and shoot through the double glazing, I tried opening the small window to take my shots but they just disappeared the minute I did that. It was great to see them back, three days earlier than I had recorded House martins before. Come on Swallows where are you?

Went for a walk today as I was early for an appointment with my Chiro, and as you know I seldom go anywhere without my camera and here is a few shots of emerging shrubs and plants, I particularly like the Fern and shall be entering this in my next photo club competition.

28th

Our club lochan opened at the weekend for the Rainbow Trout and I went today, superb fishing, really easy as they had only been in the water for a month, but superb fish. these were the first two I caught 3ib 4ozs and 2ib 14ozs and will be great in the smoker later on.

30th.

Couldn’t sleep so got up at six a.m. and went for a walk with the camera (of course)/

Just as the sun was rising and the overnight mist was lifting a lovely peaceful time of day.

Also spotted this pair of Hares sitting in our field, it was only four C at that time so I expect they had not moved all night.

1st of May.

News flash, This morning the Swallows turned up and went straight to their old nest so watch this space in the next blog for an update, so happy.

I cannot believe the weather we are having, seven days (so far) of sunny, dry days. Temperatures going up to nineteen C, but each day is followed by night and though the clear skies have been amazing for our no light polluted sky, it means the temperature has plummeted to below zero every night , so far minus five being the lowest. How temperatures can fluctuate like this I do not know, but as I am tucked up in a nice warm bed at night and once the sun comes up , it warms up, I am happy.

The signs of things to come I hope?

4th.

The birds seem to be pairing up as this couple of Chaffinches eye each other up.

The first shot of a butterfly this year, I hope to see more as all types are sadly in decline throughout the U.K.

5th.

Another first, this time the first Brown Trout to come to my fly, roughly nine inches long it was returned to fight another day when it get’s bigger.

Just liked this last years leaf looking dry but in one piece laying in the sunshine.

In a previous blog I wrote about the resilience of Snowdrops recovering from snow and frosts, but here our a bunch of our Daffodils drooped first thig after a minus three C overnight, only by midday back up and looking proud.

So proud that my red Trillion has decided to bloom for another year, three petals, a series of three leaves, hence the name.

6th.

Further signs of Spring growth, the Lilac tree and our climbing Rose showing signs of new life.

7th.

Signs of time to move on. Drew back the curtains to see what the day had to offer and way off in the far distance I saw these. Geese heading due North back to their Summer feeding grounds, such a great sight and even better when they are nearer and you can hear their chatter.

8th.

Went for a walk today as the wonderful weather continues, just up the hill to capture some woodland in the sun.

The view West over our home, way down in the valley.

Started at this memorial stone, the explanation for it is in the next shot.

A lone Scot’s Pine.

Liked this shot as it looked like the fallen trees branches was protecting the tree. Though as you can see from the height of the first branches the Deer and the cattle have eaten anything lower than they can reach.

Love the way the Silver Birch have colonised areas and due to their closeness stunted their growth.

A mature tree that has broken off at the top. You can just see the path up the Munro in the top right of the picture.

A soul Wood Anemone or Wind Flower as it is also known in the woodland catching the afternoon sun.

12th.

I cannot understand why Fritillaria’s hang down, nature should make them show off their interior’s as you can see the inside of the broken one that I placed on the grass, above. I love the different shades and colours of their petals, we don’t have many in the garden but what we do have I love. The last shot is the Forsythia just on it’s way into bloom, the rest of the plant has more flowers but I thought this by itself was the better shot than a blur of yellow.

Though the garden needs it I think the sunny days are about to give way to some rain, hope the lovely weather wasn’t our Summer?

13th.

Went out for coffee then out for a wee ride around the area, just the few pockets of snow on the hills and showing the height we climbed to above the winding road.

Four Highland ponies in the first shot the one on the right has not got rid of it’s winter coat yet.In the background is the dam on Loch Errochty part of the hydro electric network.

The spectacular views over the moors and in the middle shot the new forest starting to grow.

A Mistle Thrush from a long way off and cropped the shot, it would not turn to face me.

14th.

The Crow and the Jackdaw sit on these power lines every morning and wake us with their calling, trouble is with the lighter mornings it is getting to early and wakes us up.

A rare sight seeing this nocturnal creature during the daytime, this was only four thirty pm and is normally a sign they are feeding youngsters. Not sure we have seen this particular Pine Martin before, just look at the length of it’s tail.