There are 25000 seeds to collect…

…so, myself and Russell brave the sun and the snow at Inverwick, to top up the Scots Pine cone stock.  Apparently a local tree nursery reckon that they can give us trees to plant, from these seeds, by the Autumn.

It’s a hard day, with the sun beating down on us and the air totally still, I have to strip down to just a t-shirt and jacket on top.  And the only reason for the jacket is because it has pockets to collect the cones in while I’m up in the trees.

At one point I see a Coal Tit in a nearby tree, and a couple of Great Tits flying about.  At the next opportunity I discuss this with Russell, thinking that a Coal Tit is a good spot, at which point he proceeds to tell me that a Crested Tit was sat in the tree he was in, barely 4 feet away from him.  I’ve never seen a Crested Tit before, but as much as I try to follow the noise of the small flock of tits, as they fly around in the trees near us, I don’t get to see one today either.

Back at Dundreggan all the other Fs have left.  Russell cooks, I start the fire, and Steve eats with us whilst polishing off some left over wine.