Been away

So, regular readers will have noticed I've gone a little quiet over the last couple of weeks. Never fear, nothing's up, just been away gallivanting with Spot. And our tent.

It was great to get away. Okay, so it was different holiday from the last few years for me, what with being "unemployed", but it was still a change of routine and an opportunity to spend some quality time with Spot (I'm just waiting for the comment to that...).

Our initial plan was to stay at Blair Atholl for a few days, but when we arrived, they were full. Well, it was a Saturday and we hadn't booked. So, never defeated, we headed north and stayed in Boat of Garten for 5 nights.

It's a lovely area to visit and walks a plenty. The Speyside way runs through and we did do a stretch of it (regularly back and forward to the local hostelry!!!). It would be one of our perfect places to live, though it does have the feeling of being primarily holidaymakers (like we were, I know, I know) or people who have retired to the area. Pity.

On the Sunday, we worshiped at the local church. The people were warm and friendly. It was such a shame there were no children or young people. From the comments the person leading worship made (it's a recently vacant charge), this is the norm. But, if the people living in the area are mainly retirees or on  holiday...

Of course, being in Boat of Garten warranted a visit to the Osprey centre (again!).We walked there via Loch Mallachie and Loch Garten and, once off the main path the the centre, didn't see anyone else. It was so peaceful, yet filled with all the activity of birds feeding their young, wood ants maintaining their nests and all the other things which go on on a forest.

Odin the Osprey

 All through our stay in Boat of Garten, we wandered to the bridge over the Spey to spot otter. We never managed it, but watched swift, house martin and found a badger sett. Waiting here, with this view wasn't a hardship, though.

View from Boat of Garten Bridge

Being a bridge, we just had to play Poohsticks. On that occasion, Spot won.

We did get to Blair Atholl in the second of our two week holiday. This is such a great area to walk and watch wildlife. We spotted Golden Eagle, deer, and were within 20 metres of a buzzard feeding. That was amazing. And in an area which some think of as being quite busy. It can be, but head half a mile away from the castle or the house of Bruar and there's no one around.

The walk up Glen Tilt was brilliant. A beautiful day, in beautiful scenery. Scotland really is the best country in the world

Yet, even in this seemingly natural landscape, it is very definitely shaped by man. There should be more trees and, as walking up the Glen, we came across abandoned crofts, such as this one. Nature is taking it back, though slowly, as this was abandoned in the 1850s.

Abandoned Glen Tilt Croft

It reminded me, though this is a beautiful landscape, for the average person living here, it was a hard, inhospitable existence. Yet, this was their home until cleared to make way for sheep...

Getting back to Blair Atholl from that walk, we looked back up the Glen and, well, a picture tells a thousand words.

View up Glen Tilt

Of course, no visit to this area is complete without a visit to Bruar Falls. It's a pity it's been fairly dry so far this year (believe it or not), as the falls weren't as full as normal, but still worth the walk.

Lower Bruar Fall

Today, it was back to normal, what ever normal is. Worship at our home church. Fellowship with my church family. But over the last couple of weeks, I have wondered again and again at God's great creation.

Indulging my passions

Over the weekend, Spot and I were away in the Abernethy Forest area for our anniversary. Okay, our anniversary was last month, but that's neither here nor there! I love visiting this area. There's so much to see and do - if you're patient and have an eye and ear open to nature.

The trigger for heading up this weekend was us wanting to go to the Caper-watch at the RSPB osprey centre at Loch Garten. It did involve a very early start (getting up at 5am!), but it was well worth it to see these beautiful, yet illusive birds. While there, we saw at least 3 male Capercailles and 4 females. The females are exceedingly well camouflaged, but once seen, they are absolutely beautiful birds.

While we were there, we also saw the male and female ospreys change over incubating the egg (only one had been lain while we were there).

Osprey change over Loch Garten

 The photo isn't amazing, but those are big birds, only far away! This creature, though, is small, nearby and very fast.

Vernon the vole

Vernon (or could it be Victoria) is a bank vole who nips out to take seed dropped by the small birds from the feeders next to the osprey hide. I couldn't believe (actually, I could!) how excited I was seeing him. I think it took me back to my 11 year old self, but that's a story for another time.

Being the Abernethy Forrest, there's one thing I have to point to.

Red Squirrel

SQUIRREL! (If you've seen Up!, you'll understand the significance. If you haven't, really, watch it. It's a beautiful film.).

There was also loads of other small birds about and I could have watched them all for hours. Actually, come to think about it, I did!

So, the title of this post was indulging my passions. So, we watched wildlife, particular birds, walked in the beautiful landscape which is Abernethy and the Cairngorms. We even saw a pair of male ptarmigans at the car park for the funicular railway on Cairngorm. They were too far away to even think about getting a photo. If fact, they were easier to hear than see, but in my experience, that's usually the was with wildlife.

Another of our passions indulged was steam trains. After walking from Boat of Garten to Aviemore, then bumping into Spot's Mum's next door neighbours (it's a small world), we took the Strathspey Railway back to Boat of Garten. It was a lovely trip through beautiful countryside, though we prefer to see the working end.

Strathspey steam train leaving Aviemore

Yesterday, we took a trip up to Aberlour, where we enjoyed worshiping with Rev Shuna's congregation. They are so welcoming and very good at recommending somewhere to see/do in the area. Yesterday, the suggestion was a walk to the Linn Falls, just up from the Aberlour distillery. It was a lovely walk and well worth seeing the falls.

Linn Falls Aberlour

I wonder what the falls are like when at their normal level? All the waterways in the area were quite low as there has been a dry spell. Even with quite low water levels, they were pretty falls. The smell walking past the distillery was lovely too!

Unfortunately, we had to head home. Spot has work and I have university classes. We will be back soon enough, though. These areas are definitely ones in which Spot and I could live. Just need to wait and see where God leads us, though.

Restoring my soul

With the events and soul searching of the last couple of weeks, I felt I needed a little time to do something I enjoy. I love bird watching. Always have done. I can watch them for hours. I'm no expert, though I have picked up a reasonable knowledge of some species.

I went to Vane Farm today. It's an RSPB reserve near Kinross. This time of year, it's teeming with geese over-wintering there. I was only there for an hour or so. It was exceptionally windy and it started to rain very heavily as I was leaving, so the birds were keeping their heads down. I just had to look more carefully.

Just sitting in the silence. Watching. Waiting. Observing. Letting the thoughts of the past few days drift away and concentrating on watching the birds go about their business.

I also took a few photos of the surrounding hills steeped in snow with rain clouds all around. It was spectacular watching God's creation and letting it restore my soul.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the birds today. They were to hunkered down and far away. So, I've posted one I took last year of a blue tit attending it's young.