Loch of Lintrathen, and beyond
For my day off today I try to take in a few of the local sites…
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- A coot on the water at Lintrathen
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- Some charismatic Tufted Duck. They are easily confused with Goldeneyes.
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- Looking South from the hide on the North East side of the loch.
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- A Willow Warbler, although I didn’t hear it call and my warbler id isn’t great
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- The Backwater reservoir. The sand bank in the picture is good for Sand Martins apparently, although I didn’t see any when I was there.
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- Reekie Linn falls
More signs of spring
The sun was out again today, although not with the same consistency as yesterday, so I took a walk in the local area.
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- Peacock butterfly – my second of the year – I couldn’t get a decent pic of the first
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- Whilst walking near the Osprey tree, on the North side of the reserve, I’m accompanied by some long tailed tits
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- Then on my way home I spot this inquisitive little fella
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- The strip of Beech wood alongside the road near the farm
Osprey photo medley
I’m not really sure why Loch Garton gets the big Osprey press, as opposed to anywhere else that has Ospreys, I suppose the reasons are historical, and it’s now just tradition. I am fairly sure that I wouldn’t see any more Ospreys there than I’m seeing here, or any more often. Every time I’ve been down to the reserve I’ve seen at least one Osprey, and today there were at least three hanging around.
In the morning I saw two fishing in front of the Gullery, one making a catch within metres of the hide. And for most of the rest of the day at least one of these superb looking birds was sat either on the large spruce, or on the favoured Osprey pole, on the other side of the reserve from the hides.
Thanks to the wonders of modern technology I’ve managed to highlight an Osprey that Mum pointed out to me in the earlier post’s Redshank picture. I’ve also put together some other Osprey pictures taken today…
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- A great start to the day – I see this fish being pulled from the loch in front of the reed beds opposite the gullery hide
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- The catch is taken away, probably to offer to some Osprey totty
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- Then, a while later a second bird flies near the hide…
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- Ok, so this is the same photo from the earlier entry today, cropped a little. Osprey 2 makes a catch just metres from the front of the hide. Fantastic stuff!
Sun, hide and frisky.
Just the one day in the hide this weekend as I have tomorrow off. But, what a day. It was great to see some of the faces from last weekend again, and meet some new faces. New to me anyway. Some of the visitors I’ve met have been coming to the reserve for a long time, and have great stories to tell. Such as… apparently the reserve used to have Black Necked Grebes nesting on it, and there was a time when there were so many Black Headed Gulls nesting on the loch that it was not possible to hear yourself speak when in the Gullery (hide).
The Sun came out and life on the reserve is getting a bit frisky – there’s a definite feeling of spring in the air. Mallards chase down each others’ girlfriends, male Shovellers swim tight circles to impress potential mates and, best of all, the Lapwings perform amazing aerobics whilst making the most mellifluous fluty noises in an attempt to hold onto to territory, and, of course, get jiggy with the local totty.
And, on top of all that, there were Ospreys. Anyway, more more about them shortly. Just to finish the day off nicely, after spotting a Toad swim up underneath the Gullery, and following the advice of Steve, a regular visitor, I decided to call by the Lily pond on my way back to the flat. At the pond there were hundreds of toads splashing and swimming about. Not all of them were in full voice, but there was a decent amount of croaking. The pair of Swans sleeping out in the middle had obviously seen it all before. I stood with the lowering sun warm on my face, listening to the action for a few minutes, before strolling back to the flat.
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- It was hard to get a decent shot of this pair of Shoveller, as they spent most of the time with their heads under the water
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- If you look very carefully you can see at least one pair of Redshank on the far bank
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- This toad spent most of the day swimming up to the gullery
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- This one was in the Lily pond
Fence removal, decent sized mugs and politics.
So, life is pretty good here at the moment. Although it rained all day on Tuesday. Myself, Tom and Graham were taking down a fence on the North West of the reserve, and getting pretty muddy – no pictures from Tuesday. On Wednesday, suddenly, the weather had improved. Same job, but somehow we managed to get a whole lot more done. At one point I heard some chirping above me, just as Tom and Graham were on their way over, and we all looked up to see three Ospreys circling above us. There are pictures from Wednesday, but not of Ospreys.
Yesterday there was some work to do down at the hides before Hannah showed me the way of wader surveying. Hannah promises me that there’ll be plenty of wader/other surveys to do, which is terrible news as sitting down with a scope looking for birds seems like such a chore. And the whole situation is made worse by the fact that the process is only really worthwhile on windless days with sun.
Other interesting news – I forgot to say that I’m especially happy with the size of the mugs in the kitchen. After filling them to the top, which is what you’re supposed to do, they hold enough tea for me to avoid having to get up to refill. The room I’m sleeping in is now almost warm enough for me to consider using just the one duvet on the bed. And, perhaps most importantly, the local Coop does not stock Hobnobs. How can a food emporium not stock Hobnobs? But they do stock milkchoc Hobnobs! I have, you won’t be surprised to hear, written to McVities to explain my chagrin.
Finally, an election was called this week. It’s disappointing that the environment doesn’t seem to feature highly in any of the election debates I’ve heard so far. Apparently, the public are more concerned with how many children each potential priministerial candidate has, or is going to have, or whether they are messy whilst at home. If you are one of the important few who think that the election should be about making big decisions on the way the country is run you might be interested in the RSPB’s “Letter to the future”. It’s not really a letter to the future, it’s a letter to politicians asking them to help preserve nature so that future generations can experience what we have. More information can be found here:
http://www.rspb.org.uk/applications/lettertothefuture/index.aspx
Also, it is possible to quiz your local prospective parliamentary candidates as to what their thoughts are on the environment, by email. Do it. Even if their response is not going to influence your vote, it will still get them to think that the environment is a serious issue. I find it hard to understand why the environment isn’t top of every political party’s agenda. Without an environment nothing else matters, life is impossible. This is already happening to thousands of species across the world, thanks to man’s activities. It seems logical to me that we should be tackling major environmental issues first.
Hmm, I promised myself that I wouldn’t rant on my blog. Never mind, on to some pictures…
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- Look at those colours – what a day!
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- Graham and Tom removing a fence on the Western side of the reserve
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- Venus setting over the West of the reserve
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- Not a fairy gathering in the woods – myself and Hannah set up a moth trap on Wednesday night
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- A very cool looking fly with an equally cool Common Quaker (probably-where’s Jane Bowman when I need her?)
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- Looking through the scope at one of the Kinnordy Ospreys, with fish
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- Whilst cleaning the tools this morning I had some company…
Two days in the hide.
Following my day off on Friday I was posted to hide duty over Easter weekend. This involved me spending time in one of the hides, with a telescope, talking to visitors about the birds we could see. I can remember thinking to myself a number of times over the two days, ‘hmm, is this really work?’.
The job was made even more gratifying when various people, often youngsters, exclaimed surprise at seeing a bird they’d maybe never seen before, up close through the scope. Nature is amazing, and doesn’t take much selling – hopefully a few more kids will now grow up knowing this, and one of them could end up in a position to make a serious difference to our future.
I was also regaled with stories from a number of local regulars, one of which showed me a picture that he’d taken at the reserve two weeks earlier, of a White Tailed Eagle. The Eagle had been released nearby last year, as part of a reintroduction programme, hence it had blue tags on its wings. In the picture the Eagle was flying low, maybe 2 or 3 feet over the water, wings outstretched to slow itself down, and a few feet in front of it were two Swans rearing up out of the water to face it, both also with wings outstretched.
The Eagle is huge. It’s wings almost span the width of both swans standing together. Unfortunately I can’t remember if I asked the question as to what happened next, because I was so fascinated by the picture.
I was also lucky enough to see some birds I’ve never seen before, as well as get some great views of some amazing birds that I never tire of seeing (not that I ever tire of seeing any wild animal in its natural environment, but I must admit I have favourites), such as Widgeon, Teal and Ospreys. Of my firsts, I did just catch a glimpse of a Sand Martin, and the other is pictured below.
Today I had a day off – I get two a week, just not necessarily at the weekends – and the weather hasn’t been welcoming, so I’ve been catching up with (digital) paperwork.
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- A coot.
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- The view North from the Gullery hide. A favoured Osprey perch is sticking out of the scrub over the water just right of centre.
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- Mr Mallard looking a little ungainly, and then more dignified.
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- A Reed Bunting in the reeds below the hide
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- So, Sunday, on my way I stop by East hide, and this wee bird is feeding just out front…
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- Do you know what it is? This is my other first…
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- It’s a Water Rail. Fantastic! I sat and watched it for a good 10 minutes when I probably should have been doing something else, sorry Hannah!
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- Ooh, look at this! A pair of Goldeneye, and then a pair of Mallard behind them, and a Moorhen between the reeds behind them
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- One of the local Ospreys makes use of the aforementioned favoured post
A few pics from my day off
Yesterday I took a bit of a walk to get to know the place. Here are some pics of the things I saw.
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- Most of the reserve is on the Kinnordy estate. I stay in a flat that is part of the estate. This is not it (I’ve included a photo of it in an earlier entry). I don’t know what this is, but it looks great.
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- This is the estate house. I’m guessing it has more rooms than the flat I’m staying in.
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- I was lucky enough to see two Red Squirrels in the same tree, but I didn’t have my camera ready. I think this is probably the same one. One seemed a lot busier than the other.
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- This chap seems to spend a lot of time hanging around in a ploughed field. Here he wised up a bit and dived for the scrub
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- A Redshank feeding in front of a female Teal.
Loch of kinnordy RSPB reserve
So, I’m doing some more volunteering with the RSPB, this time in East Scotland near a town called Kirriemuir. The reserve is about 90 hectares (almost 1 square kilometre) in size, and it’s possible to see it all in a day, which is what I did on my first working day here (Monday 29th March). Since then I’ve been ducking inside avoiding snow (more snow!), out in a canoe on the loch, taking down fencing, and trying to keep warm.
On Tuesday and Wednesday it was blowing a hoolie, so not much opportunity for pictures. By Thursday (yesterday) things had calmed down a little so Hannah, the warden, took myself and Tom, a local reed cutter contracted to the RSPB, out on the loch in the canoe. Hannah collected 10 samples from the loch, which will hopefully tell someone somewhere something useful about the silt content.
Today I’ve had a day off
More information about the reserve is here
Hannah, the warden writes a blog, which is here
Oh, it’s late – I’ll write more soon.
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- Tuesday morning – the wagon parked out side the flat, my home for four weeks (not the bit without glass in the windows)
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- Looking West from East hide this evening
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- Hannah tries to fit Tom into his dry suit
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- Making our way in the good ship… Canoe, with a Ninja at the helm.
Some stitched together panoramas
I had a go at stitching together some panoramas from some of the photos I’ve taken recently (15th March). They’ve come out ok. I’m not sure they’ll be of any use to anyone, but here they are anyway.
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- An almost 180deg view from the South beach at Fort George. To the left is Ardersier with the top of the Great Glen being the opening in the hills to the right.
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- Another Kessock bridge in the setting sun picture… Both these pictures are roughly a 16th of the resolution of the originals to get them uploaded.
Some more pics from the HARP work week
These pictures were taken on Sunday evening, when I went for a walk up the hill behind the cottage (Strathan, at Attadale), and one from Wednesday, when I walked the Beinn Laith Mhor ridge with Craig (see previous entry for more details).
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- Sunset over Loch Carron
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- I come across these chaps as I make my way down the hill.
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- This little fella wasn’t moving much, either because of the cold, or maybe because of death.
A Trees For Life work week with HARP Southend
HARP stands for the Homeless Action Resource Project, but it does a lot more than just running a drop in centre. It’s aim is to give those that come through the system the opportunity to get a home, and make a dignified return to society. Each year HARP sends a group of people, making their way through rehabilitation, to the highlands for a TFL work week.
All bar one of the group are male, mostly young lads. Most have had some involvement with drugs, and some have got into trouble through drink. It’s easy to assume that they are going to hate Scotland, not eat the food we’ve brought, and avoid doing any work if at all possible. If you thought this you’d be wrong. Right from the start of the week the group help with unpacking the van, lighting the fire, and preparing meals. One of the group has been a chef in a previous life, and the first meal of the week, following some grumbles about the vegetarian diet, goes down well.
Paul, the chef, is easy going and well mannered, and I find it hard to believe someone like him could find himself in a situation where he’d need to use HARP’s services. And as the week goes on it seems obvious to me that most of these people’s lives have been driven by the circumstances that surround them, a set of events that has seen them end up in trouble in some way. During conversations with pretty much all of them I find myself thinking that I like them and that I could be in their shoes if I’d been through the same things they had. Except, that I’m not sure I would be where they are now, because I’m not sure I’d have the guts to have fought my way out of their story.
Anyway, this week turned out to be one of my favourite TFL weeks. We managed to plant over 3700 trees in under four days; we had great food every night, despite the group’s initial reservations about the vegetarian diet; I tried acupuncture in the ears for the first time; we played card games and wink murder every night; and myself and Craig made everyone hold hands at least twice during the week!
I also had the opportunity to spend a lot of my time planting with Wayne, another great guy who’s outlook on life seems to have been moulded by his circumstances. I’m not sure how many trees Wayne planted on the first day planting, as he seemed more interested in smashing up the dead wood on the hill. On day two he and myself became a team, and planted 120 trees. On planting day four we planted 150 trees, just in the morning. I’m sure when Wayne gets back to Southend life’ll be the same for him as it was before his trip to Scotland, but I know that Wayne enjoyed his time in Scotland, and I feel pretty disappointed that I’m unlikely to ever see him again.
I focalised the week with Craig. We’ve been meaning to get a week sorted together for some time, so that was good. On our day off we walked Beinn Laith Mhor, which was a top day out, even if my waterproof trousers finally gave up being waterproof half way back to the van.
Finally, if you want to know more about HARP, then look at their web site http://www.harpsouthend.co.uk. And if you want to know more about how people are changed by the situations that they find themselves in, then read a book called “The Lucifer Effect” by Philip Zimbardo.
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- The first day and Jamie, who’s seen one before, has to explain hills to the others
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- Wayne, Jamie, Alex and the Pauls are impressed by the tattoo of a pair of jeans on luke’s backside. Aaron is wishing that the stitching was for real.
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- Soon all this will be trees
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- Looking West along the Beinn Liath Mhor ridge.
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- Myself and Craig having conquered a munro and the worst that nature can throw at us
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- Chocalate pancakes, a sample of the some of the fine dishes on offer through the week.
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- Wayne and Aaron model an ear full of needles, thanks to Mike, who’s inspecting Luke’s ear in the picture
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- Happy to be planting trees, or because it’s their last day?
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- The group try their best to prevent me from photographing the van they hope will get them back to Southend. I wonder if it did…
Last day of the Loch Ness mini tour
Tomorrow I have to be back in Findhorn for a briefing before next week’s work week with HARP. This morning I wake up in a parking area on ‘General Wade’s military Road’, which runs along the East coast of Loch Ness. I spend some time walking the trails from Inverfarigaig, which is a pretty cool place. Lots of big craggy hills, and a river flowing fast into the Loch. Finally I head across country, via the back roads, to Forres, where Craig, my co-focaliser for the week ahead, has agreed to let me stay for the night. I’m grateful for a shower and a chance to get some washing done.
I’ll have to upload photos when I get a better internet connection
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- Lobaria Pulmonaria, a type of lichen fallen from a tree, as big as my foot
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- A close up of the underside of Lobaria pulmonaria
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- This is a liverwort, a more basic life form than a plant, and not a lichen
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- Cladonia, possibly polydactyla, looking like a small fairy village
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- A bench on the green walk at Inverfarigaig
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- As I’m sat on the bench I’m blessed by the company of another Crossbill
Another day another loch, and walk in another woods…
All the lochs are frozen and the sky is blue… I walk up another hill, Tom Bailgeann, and do more woodsy stuff, and have to stop my van at one point, for some Crossbills, in the road, fantastic.
I go to Loch Ruthven, looking for Dougie, but I don’t find him in the hide. And I don’t find any Slav Grebes on the Loch, which is mostly frozen. Dougie should have been sitting in the hide waiting for visitors and the Grebes should have been around braving the ice, like the pair of tufted ducks and mallard that were there. But never mind, it was another good day.
Ok, I’ve added some more pics here, now that I’ve had the chance to sort them out…
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- A beetle in some water in the woods
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- Mrs Crossbill, having hopped up from the road.
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- Mr Crossbill
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- A glacier floating down Loch Ceo Glais
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- The view South from Tom Bailgeann
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- Looking North from Tom Bailgeann, towards Inverness
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- And to show off my zoom, the Kessock bridge, without setting sun today.
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- Loch Ruthven.
Loch Ness East
Last night I kipped on a hill on the Eastern side of Loch Ness. Today I walked in the woods and walked up a hill. Not many pics, the light wasn’t great, but it was my first time exploring this side of the great Loch, so that was cool.
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- Baeomyces Rufus, on a rock next to a spring.
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- Drumnadrochit from my hill
Some sites from the Moray Firth
So, last night I kipped in a wood off a small side road between Nairn and Fort George. This morning I went walking in the wood, and saw some cool stuff. Then I drove to Fort George, where I ate lunch watching a guy kite surf the Moray Firth. As the sun was lowering I drove to a little place called Alturlie Point, which offers a great view of the Firth. I’m quite pleased with some of these pics.
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- My van is much bigger than a ship
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- It’s been a few years since I’ve seen one of these, but I’m guessing wood pidgeon
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- Birch polypore (Piptoporus Betulinus)
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- Click on this one to zoom in on it – there’s something cool in the hole
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- Pardosa Lugubris I’m thinking
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- These appear to be stump puffballs, aptly gathered on a stump.
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- Kessock bridge in widescreen
Roseisle
So, I have a new laptop, hence I’ve started uploading pictures again. By the end of the week I’ve finished some work for TFL (IT stuff), and am wondering what to do for the next few days. I decide to sleep in the forest at Roseisle, which backs onto the beach between Findhorn and Burghead. There are some nice walks here, and already quite a few visitors for the time of year.
Even though there is a fairly persistent drizzle, one family I walk past have bought a disposable barbecue with them. A man, lets call him ‘Outdoor Dad’, is barbecuing some food on a nearby table while the rest of the family sit in their car. Outdoor Dad is passed uncooked food out of the window, and then carries the cooked stuff back to the car. I wonder whether Outdoor Dad used to be into outdoor activities. Whether he used to go cycling with the lads, or climb rock faces. I wonder if he’s given up trying to change Indoor Mum, or if he still harbours some hope that this experience will be the turning point.
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- Peltigera Hymenina, a fairly common Dog Lichen. This was taken just above the beach.
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- This little fella doesn’t appear in the Collins guide to British wildlife.
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- When I was at Abernethy the RSPB were accused by the locals of making a mess when they didn’t remove dead wood. Here the foresty commission explain that stumps are left for nesting and as a food source.
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- A song thrush
A couple of days out at Dundreggan
Yesterday and today I was lucky enough to tag a ride along to Dundreggan with the TFL staff, who were all over there for a staff meeting. Yesterday I entertained myself by setting up shared printing, via a MAC, to a windows laptop, and with a few other IT bits and pieces, while the staff meeting took place. Today I gratefully gave a hand to Dan and Colin who were setting out plots in the new planting area, to be set aside for ‘experiments’.
The aim of the ‘experiments’ is to determine whether different planting conditions aid the growth of the newly planted trees. The plots that I’ll be most interested in are those using soil samples containing fungal mycelium. The more I read about fungi and their place within ecosystems, the more I discover that it seems trees (and other plants) derive huge benefit from them. Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) is well known to form mycorrhizas (translates to ‘fungi root’, where a plant root becomes sheathed with mycelium to form a symbiotic relationship between the two) with Birch trees, one of the trees that will be planted in the planting area.
The planting site is at roughly 400m. Allan tried to take us up in the 4 wheel drive pickup, but that couldn’t find its way through the first increasingly large snow drifts on the track on the way up. So, after a rethink Allan and Steve picked us up in the Argo. Woaw, another big kid adventure. We all hung on whilst Allan negotiated enormous near vertical drifts, taking us teetering over the edges of huge snow formed chasms, eventually getting us to the gate of the planting site. From there we had to carry our stuff in because, due to the snow, we couldn’t get the gate open.
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- Let’s find some vampires
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- The Dundreggan Crevasse
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- Allan and Steve take stock of the damage caused by the snow. This fence is two meters high, but here it’s slowly being pulled apart by the weight of the drift
Some pictures of the bay
The weather has been very spring like, even with the freezing cold mornings. The sun is warming during the day, and the birds certainly seem to be enjoying it.
I’ve decided that a new laptop is required, and so have been frantically looking for bargains online. Laptops are, thankfully, cheaper than the last time I had to buy one. I’m grateful to TFL for allowing me to use their office and internet connection to sort out what I need.
Anyway, here are some pictures from my wandering today…
Some minor set backs.
I’ve been having such a good time I suppose it was to be expected that my luck would even out at some point. So, after a reboot, my laptop informed my that it was suffering from a “fatal system error”. It was pretty blunt about it, no other hints at what the problem might be, and no room for maneuver.
I’m fairly sure the hard drive had some bad blocks on it, but this was disappointing. And I don’t have the tools on me to test the hard drive, etc to narrow down the problem. So at the moment I’m having to rely on the very charitable IT folks at Findhorn to find out what I can recover.
In the mean time I can continue to let you know what I’m up to, but it might not look as pretty. I’m currently doing a spot more work in the TFL office, and, since Jane’s move to Dundreggan, staying in my van. The weather is slightly contrary to what I’d consider ideal. In the daytime the sun is out, the birds sing, spring is in the air, there is a hint of warmth. The park looks lovely while I sit in the TFL office browsing the net for a new laptop. At night the stars come out, the sky is clear, and the temperature falls beyond freezing. This morning I found it most difficult to extract myself from my two sleeping bags. I then had to scrape the ice from the inside of the windows to see the ice on the outside of the windows.
The cold weather seems to be affecting some of my other ‘toys’. The van roof only raises after it’s been driven a while, and the flow to the tap inside has failed completely due to ice in the system. And my mobile now only works after it’s been left on a radiator for an hour in the mornings. Without this process it will happily ring when someone calls, but none of the buttons work, so the call cannot be taken.
The tree nursery work week that I was supposed to be leading this week was initially postponed, and has now been cancelled. Apparently it’s not possible to prepare the trees to be shipped out for planting, as they are covered in snow. However, I do plan to spend some time at the Plodda during the week beginning March 13th, helping Gill out with the work that needs doing, assuming things have thawed out a bit by then.
I have some more pics of Forest Lodge to post at some point, including some of the igloo that Ross and Jordan built. Hopefully things will be sorted in due course. To finish on some positives, this morning I saw Shelduck on Findhorn bay when I woke. The bay looked fantastic, with snowy hills behind it, and all the surrounding pools iced over. There were also plenty of oystercatcher, curlew, and geese about. Unfortunately the geese were too far away for me to see what they were, but it’s great to hear them chattering away to each other at night.
Ok, things have now (11th) improved, so I’ve added my last Forest Lodge post, and added some pics below…
Some Shelduck and other waders feeding in the bay on what is a pretty cold morning
This 60 second exposure shot shows the flight path of a plane being flown repeatedly around the airbase, with Forres in the distance
From snow to freezing.
It was pretty much impossible to get away from the lodge over the weekend, due to the snow, and besides, the TFL tree nursery week that I was supposed to be Foclising has been postponed. So, I made the most of the weekend by walking in the snow.
On Saturday night, after myself and Tom had gone to bed, Dougie watched a couple of Pine Martin on the bird table outside the kitchen window. So, Tom put some more food out on the table, and we thought we’d see if they turned up on Sunday night. At about 8pm I checked the table with the torch, just in time to see a tail running away from the table. Tom replaced the food again, but had no joy before bed time. In the morning the food was gone.
This morning I managed to successfully steer the passion wagon down the snow covered track and made my way back to Findhorn. There is some more IT work on offer in the TFL office, and so I’ve something to do for the week.
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- There’s enough room for me to lie down in here
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- This was the view yesterday from the hide where I took the pictures of the buzzard
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- What is this red blob?
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- This yellow blob seems to be resin from the tree (P Silvestris)
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- One last walk about Loch Garton.
Cresty spotting
Yesterday (Friday) was spent clearing snow from in front of the workshop, and off various roofs (18inches of snow must be pretty heavy); and out clearing snow breaks and dangerous overhangs from the nearby roads. Afterwards I waded up Cairn Rynettin, where I saw a lone male Bullfinch attempting to keep himself alive through heather seed consumption. Am I wrong in thinking that it’s pretty unusual for a Bullfinch to be hanging out on top of a wind and snow swept hill eating Heather?
Today myself, Tom and Dougie head over to the Osprey centre. Apparently there are feeders, and a great chance of seeing Crested Tits, a bird I’ve not seen before. When we get there the feeders are busy with Great Tits, Coal tits and the occasional Blue Tit. And then, after a reasonably short wait, a pair of Crested Tits come down to feed. The Cresty is a spiky character, with punk style hair, and a machine gun staccato call. Myself and Tom (check out Tom’s web site by clicking this link) spend a little time trying to get pictures of it feeding, but the light is not great.
Then, as we’re watching, a Red Squirrel approaches, before climbing the tree with the feeders, and taking food from a box with an openable top.
Anyway, below are my shots. Remember it’s just a digital compact.
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- Tom and Ross (site manager) spring into life as Dougie fells an overhang
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- So the wind’ll be coming from the North then
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- Hmm, that looks like a…
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- Bullfinch?!
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- Snow up to my thighs, splendid.
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- A cresty in a tree
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- After 7 hours of sitting alone, below freezing, in a haunted forest, I nail the cresty shot
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- And the red squirrel shot.
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- Feeders, what feeders?
That’s not snow, this is snow.
Yesterday is started snowing. It was snowing along, nice and slowly, maybe dropping a couple of inches by the end of the day, and we thought we were due another 3 or 4 inches overnight. When I looked out the kitchen window this morning there still seemed to be the same fine snow that we’d seen yesterday falling from the sky.
However, Tom talked his way through my early morning haze, insisting that there had been at least 6 inches overnight. In fact, when I then ventured outside the snow was at least a foot and rising. It snowed and snowed, and when myself and Tom went looking for a nearby hide, late morning, we had to wade through at least 2ft of the stuff. I, of course, thought this was the best thing I’ve seen in a long time.
Here are some pics of the last couple of days. On Tuesday we went log cutting with Alice, the volunteer co-ordinator, and Clair, a long term volunteer from Insh, who knew my co-resident on Islay, David, as she’d worked with him for a week at Insh. Afterwards I went for a walk in the woods North of the lodge and found some Capercaillie poo, and spotted what I’m fairly sure was a vole.
Yesterday myself and Tom chopped wood and checked a fence for snow breaks. Today, only Alice made it in, due to the snow, and schools being closed, so our main job was to clear snow from paths.
Comments will follow when I get a chance… Comments now added.
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- Myself and Tom, just lowly volunteers, have to stack the wood that Alice, Clair and Dougie saw up
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- Tom modelling one log carrying device; myself modelling the “It’s a hat!” hat
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- I’m fairly sure this is Capercaillie poo – it seems a bit big for grouse…
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- This lichen, on a Scots Pine trunk, is almost certainly a Cladonia, but it seems greyer and more speckled than the id pics I’ve found
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- Whereas I’m fairly sure this is Usnea Rubicunda, also on the same tree.
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- The workshops.
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- It’s started to snow
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- Woohoo, it’s properly snowing…
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- Ah ha haaa, it’s up to my knees!
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- It’s not so easy making one of these in 2ft of snow
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- The culmination of years of wishing.
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- Myself and Tom went to find a hide. Tom turned back, it was pretty knackering walking through 2ft plus of snow. Just yards later I found it, and got these shots of a buzzard
And some pics from Monday
On Monday Dougie, Tom and I were tasked with checking a fence to ensure it hadn’t been breached by any fallen branches. The volume of snow over the last couple of months has caused plenty of branches to snap under the weight. It gives me a chance to see some of the woods near the lodge. Apparently quite a bit of these woods are planted, having been felled many years ago for timber for various wars, mining, etc. Old pictures show the lodge with just a few trees dotted around it, whereas it is now surrounded by semi-mature forest.
In the afternoon myself and Tom get a chance to drive out towards Rynettin, South of the lodge, to see the sun setting against the Cairngorms.
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- Dougie and Tom negotiating a slippery river crossing
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- Bynack More
My pics from Sunday
On Sunday, officially a day off for us vols, Dougie, the long term volunteer here, took myself and Tom out to Memorial wood as part of our induction. From the edge of the wood we could see most of the Cairngorm range. Spectacular.
Later I walked along tracks to the East and South of the lodge. On the way back to the lodge I was lucky enough to see 3 Long Tailed Tits flying out of some Birch near me.
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- I think this is Cairn Lochan behind Creag Nan Gall (the steep wooded incline in the foreground)
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- Dougie (left) and Tom, my fellow volunteers.
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- Cavernularia Hultenii on Scots Pine bark.
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- Sun down causes the light to change through numerous different shades. I’m not sure my camera can do it justice.
Life since the office 
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