Mountains and hills and wildcats.

We woke to a dull raining day and from the woods where I walk the dogs in the morning I could see the snow on the Cromdale Hills which are a the highest point only 722m...getting closer.

However at midday I went out on the hill at the back of the house and from there took the photo of the Cairngorms and the sun was out and the Beachan Woods looked beautiful.

These are mostly birch wood and Scots Pine that are there look incongrous.

The view taken from one hillock is of Grantown looking over to the Cromdale Hills where by this time the snow had gone.

We both went to a talk on the Wildcat which is a secretive animal so rarely spotted except on Autumn Watch and at the Kingussie Highland Wildlife Park. The programme of protecting the species includes neutering all tame cats as the cross breeding is the single biggest threat to their extinction. Look at http://www.highlandtiger.com/ for more information.

A weekend of sunshine.

The picture is early morning in the community woods that are the edge of Grantown, seperating it from the river. It is mostly Scots Pine and birch but there are pockets of beech that are just slowly turning to autumn gold.

The woods have paths winding through them and our preferred walk is through the woods to Cromdale and back along the river. It has been and "after feeding Dad" and "before feeding ourselves" walk, between 5 and 7pm.

Now there isn't enough daylight so we have shortened it but will soon have to start walking the afternoon.

Winter days are short here. How depressing that will feel after a couple of months, wehave yet to discover. Not working helps because all the daylight hours, even if there are only 5 of them can be spent out doors...(in the snow?)

Burghead Harbour.

Missing picture from last blog restored...plus another to fill the page.
It is a proper fishing town, no pleasure cruises here.

A walk by the sea.

The River Spey runs to the sea. The Moray Firth is a beautiful stretch of water that links the North Sea to Loch Ness. From Nairn to Banff it is silvery gold sand, nabks of startlingly varied pebbles and mostly deserted.

There are shore birds, dolphins, seals and even whales to be spotted and today there were 2 collies (as ever on my blog pictures). This time Ralph was with me as we walked the 14 mile round trip, through the woods and along the shore. It was warm and sunny and as you can see the views were stunning.

The 2nd picture above shows the start of the Moray Coastal Path from Findhorn which felt a little moon-like...maybe a bit like the top of Bleaklow with no rain.
The harbour is at Burghead...a real fishing boat coming in but sadly not a fish shop to be had. We ate a club sandwich in the pleasant "Bothy Cafe" (you can either eat in or eat oot, the sign stated).

Finally as we neared the end of our shore walk back, the sun was giving the shore this silver sheen on the wet sand. You can see Moss's reflection.

It's a definite plus living only 22 miles from the sea.

Tree felling...

Before...

After...

Spot the bird...

To follow on from the bird table post with the little Siskins, Tits and Chaffinches we now have the pictured cock Pheasant. He may eat the debris off the bird table bit one day he will be on our table!

This is to be taken lightly because it depends on Ralph actually finding all the parts to his air rifle and then actually taking aim and making contact!

Meanwhile our bold (in appearance and habit) bird friend lingers in and around the gardens of the neighbourhood and we can enjoy his wonderful colours and irritating call. No females around so it is much like Sandal Farm where we had a resident cock pheasant too.

Highland wildlife..well, some of them are.

Snowy Owl chick. Schreeches for his mum!

Siberian tiger...luckily not a native to Scotland. This is a tiger cub and weighs 140kg.

The Timber wolf...bit like Pip only hungrier!! Also no longer a native to the Highlands.

A Polish pony. responsible for caving in the bonnet of a car, not mine and I didn't take my new Skoda having heard the tale.

A Bison...um, from the States...

We did see the Scottish wildcat which looked like your ordinary moggie only with a fat striped tail and plenty of deer, also the Capercaillle which is a huge bird. The trouble is that these photos included their wire mesh so weren't very visable.

It was a lovely afternoon watching the animals in the nicest of enviroments in sunshine with the mountains a s a backdrop. The animals all looked at ease in large enclosures...only we didn't see the Red Panda, the beavers, the otters or the Elk.