A bird in the hand.....

Once we had settled into our Speyside home we could start on some expeditions. On the first day we kept it quite local, not really a problem with Nethy Bridge (Nethybridge?) being close to most of the areas of interest. We started off with a walk around the woods near Boat of Garten. 

It was still really cold but the misty, early morning light cast a glow over the snow-covered fields and trees dripping with frost.

The woods here are well marked and the paths weren't too bad to follow.

You did have to watch out for the ice-covered puddles. The patterns in them were beautiful but they could be lethal!

A circular walk took about 2 hours however we failed to find the capercaillies which we have seen here before. They are always very tricky to find despite their size with numbers still falling in most areas.

Our second stop was a very short distance away at Loch Garten. I've been visiting here since the mid 70's on holidays with my parents. Then it was the flagship reserve for watching the nesting ospreys which were mega rare. Unfortunately for the RSPB the nesting pole hasn't been as successful in the last few years, since their star female, EJ, passed away. Of course there is no chance of osprey at this time of year, especially as the loch was totally frozen over, so no fishing there.

There is still a well-stocked and well frequented feeding station in the forest just beyond the car park which can have red-squirrels and crested tits so we headed for this. 

The birds are really habituated to people here and within seconds of getting our bag of bird food out the coal tits were all over us!

I think the record was 5 on Judiths hand at one go with some even perching on her bobble hat!! The snowy trees made a lovely backdrop for them although by now my fingers were so cold that I could barely operate the camera buttons.

We decided that the risk of frostbite wasn't worth it so we retreated back to our cabin for some warming soup. Surprisingly we saw no squirrels (too cold and they were tucked up in their drey?) or crested tits.

After we had thawed out we drove around the local roads looking at the frosty views, which were spectacular. You could just drive along any road and see views to die for. 

The light was constantly changing. There was very little wind but small pockets of cloud or mist would drift along the valley creating backdrops for the wintery scenes.

Although we were cold, Buster the Highland cow didn't seemed at all fazed by it. As we drove further out the views got bigger as we got near Locindorb. The road down to it was impassable which as a a shame as the castle on a frozen loch would have been epic but not worth getting stuck for! The frozen trees by the road made up for it though.

I don't think I've seen such widespread frost and snow in the trees. Hardly surprising as this is December in the Cairngorms in the middle of a cold snap. I wonder if there locals ever get tired or these views. 

Unfortunately just as the sun was going down and I thought we would get a stunning sunset a bank of cloud rolled in and killed the light. The last embers still allowed a few more shots to be taken, especially of the built-landscape as well as the trees.

Not a day for spotting exotic wildlife but really interesting nonetheless. Living in the south you forget how hard but beautiful Winter can be.

Into the freezer

 Day two of our Scottish holiday was a bit of a travelling day. We didn't have to go far (Ballater to Nethy Bridge) but the direct route was closed due to the snow and anyway we fancied doing a longer route via the north coast. After porridge in our hotel, the Balmoral Arms, we defrosted the car (-9c!), loaded up with provisions at the Co-op and set off. 

As per the previous day the weather was still very cold and the scenery was amazing. The trees were dripping with frost and the fields covered in a thin blanket of snow.

As we went north, the Cairngorm plateau started to disappear behind us but before we got out of the snow zone the temperature on the car hit -13C. Braemer is often one of the coldest places in the UK and it certainly was today!

Interestingly, the snow was unlike any I had seen before. It resembled  slush-puppy, with large crystals of ice crunching under your feet as you walked.

We saw this a number of times over the next few days. I presume it was due to the very low temperatures creating ice other than snow?

Finally we came out of the snow zone and headed to Cullen. Whilst Judith checked out the local antique shop I headed to the harbour for a bit of sea-watching. At least there was no wind but it was bloody cold!. The sea was dead flat but there was not much around. 

Gulls kept passing there breakwater but not in any great numbers,

and a shag or two were fishing nearby.

Normally there are good numbers of eider and long-tailed ducks offshore but I only saw a couple of distant eider and one smart long-tailed duck near enough to photograph (which was still a good way off!).

The best bird was a year-tick for me and was a lone black-throated diver which again was too far off for a decent photo. 

By now I was starting to get really cold so I was very pleased when Judith arrived to pick me up and we drove on to our stop for the next, our cabin in the woods at Nethy Bridge. It wasn't long before we were back in the land of snow and ice!

Not what you would expect in the Highlands

 We have started our annual trip up to the Highlands of Scotland. Normally we go in spring or late Autumn but more recently we've taken to going in the period just before Xmas - snow and fewer people around! Our first stop was two nights in Ballater allowing us to explore a slightly different area of the Cairngorms. The weather was interesting to say the least. Snow had fallen and a cold blast of air greeted us north of the Border. The car thermometer gave -13c at one point and it took us a long time to defrost it before we could head out on our first expedition.

It was only a short drive to Balmoral estate. We weren't heading for the castle though, but on a walk to see some of the Victorian cairns on the hill above it. After parking up and crossing the Brunel bridge (surely one of his smaller engineering tasks!)

we embarked on a short uphill walk through the snowy woods. There are 11 cairns in total around this area, all on a circular walk. We would only see two. The first and smallest was erected to commemorate the marriage of one of her many children! There must have been quite a few servants and donkeys lugging the stones up the hill to make it!

As we kept climbing through the snow-covered wood

we finally saw what we had come to see, the cairn erected by Victoria to commemorate the death of Albert.

This was erected in 1862 following his death

and is much bigger than the earlier one, measuring 41 feet by 41 feet at the base (do those numbers mean something to Masons?). It is perched on a ridge with spectacular views over the surrounding countryside especially with the gin clear skies we had.

We were pretty much the only people there and their silence was amazing. No wind or traffic noise together with the view made it well worth the walk. We spent I guess half an hour walking round the pyramid admiring the views and starting to relax into our holiday.

It's not a bad place to have a memorial though I suppose Victoria could choose anywhere she wanted! We finished off watching the sun go down (very early up there) after a cracking start to our holiday.