Of course this headline finishes with “we will have snow” and sure enough that direction of wind at the moment is blowing a hoolie and we have had a few snow showers, nothing to cause disruption but enough to be annoying. But the next minute it is sunshine but still with that wind forecast to reach forty mph.
22nd.
Went down to Loch Dunmore today to clean our service boat ready for a couple of weekends coming up when we cut some weed back to enable us to fish. Thought I would share this unusual phenomenal thing that is happening on the water.
All three of the above shots show what appears to be islands in the water, the last one showing three in the foreground and to white areas further out, which are the same. These are in fact floating islands and are caused by the roots of the lilies rotting and building up gases under the mud which then totally lift the roots and mud up to the surface. They are a bit like icebergs in as much as there is a lot under the water as there is above, which makes them very heavy and difficult to break up. Though good to fish in the proximity of the islands (as fish feel safe under them) are a nuisance as the large one in front has drifted in front of the swim I normally fish.
In the middle of shot one & two you can see a streak in the water, unfortunately this is an adult Cormorant which is more a problem than the islands as it will eat it’s own weight in fish every day.
23rd.
Just to prove my point we have got the snow on the hills and still that very cold North wind, these taken this morning, after twenty years of living here still a great sight to open the curtains to each morning.
Borrowed a few shots from my neighbours garden I am sure Rod won’t mind? Despite the cold things are starting to bud up, this is Lilac.
Honeysuckle.
A few from my garden, Cherry just seeing the blossom bud up.
Flowering Currant.
A small bush flowering Rhododendron also budding up.
A Clematis already hit by an earlier cold spell but trying again.
26th.
Had to go to the estate office of Blair Castle today and this is the view from the rear of the castle that not many see.
While at the castle I travelled up towards where I fish and grabbed this shot to show in the two days since the last post we have had a bit more of the white stuff.
28th
Had to go into Perth today and it just so happened I arrived an hour early, surprise, surprise.
By some strange reason I had my camera with me so decided to pop into Rodney Gardens and look for the Kingfishers that I have photographed before, saw one twice but way to quick for me. But I did notice this Beaver activity above. If you imagine a city centre on one side of the River Tay and one hundred yards away from a busy road coming in over the river into the city, with a lot of activity in the area well that was where this tree was, so a very urban Beaver. Admittedly Beavers are all along the Tay river system now, but would you imagine one in the city centre?
When I got home, as I come in through the backdoor a Robin will spot me and come down to the nearest bush and hope for some mealworms, well today it had a companion, Robin’s normally fight other Robins to keep their territory, so I guess this pair have got together for the mating season as they tollerated each other whilst feeding.
30th.
Have not seen this female Chaffinch for a whole year, so unusual to see one with a white head, known as leucitic bird, normally occurs in black plumage birds, but can occur in any type. Not a great shot as I just caught it by a feeder, ran to my bedroom to get my camera, wrong lens, changed it, ran to the living room and got it through the double glazing before it flew off. The other Chaffinch’s do bully it a bit so it does not stay in the same spot for long.
31st.
Happy easter everyone, it has been my religious part of Easter Sunday to either go to a sunrise service with a church or go by myself UP the hill from us and see the and celebrate the sunrise. Today was no exception except for the fact that our clocks went forward before I got up, son though my clock said six o’clock my brain and body was still in time with five o’clock. To make things even harder it was minus two C and my car was covered in ice, so I had to walk Up the mile and a half to where I took the shots below.
At the gateway to our house, you can see the red in the sky as I start my journey.
A bit late but it was a long uphill walk.
The sun catching the tops of the Birch trees.
The way home the white dot right of centre is the castle way down the hill on about the same level as our house so you can see what I mean by Up the hill.
A wonderful peaceful morning surrounded by silence except for the pheasants and curlew calling, plus I saw eight Roe Deer, to quick for me to capture with the camera, but a smashing sight.