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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.

Posted by  |  10 March, 2010 | Categories: TFL, Work | 1 Comment

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…

Posted by  |  7 March, 2010 | Categories: TFL, Travels | Leave a comment

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

Posted by  |  3 March, 2010 | Categories: TFL, Travels | 3 Comments

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.

Posted by  |  1 March, 2010 | Categories: Travels | Leave a comment

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.

Posted by  |  27 February, 2010 | Categories: RSPB, Travels | 3 Comments

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.

Posted by  |  25 February, 2010 | Categories: RSPB | 7 Comments

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.

Posted by  |  24 February, 2010 | Categories: RSPB | Leave a comment

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.

Posted by  |  24 February, 2010 | Categories: Travels | Leave a comment