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Stuck in Sussex, so here's an overdue WH entry. Uni lecturing down south means 2019 started with a couple of desperate grabs at some Highlands scenery & wildlife.
The first was Fri 18th - Mon 21st Jan. (Lovely in spite of my solo days not going at all to plan.)
The second was Sat 23rd - Sun 24th Feb (students' reading week, so-called... pff...).
Friday 18th Jan:Coming up from the south coast sometimes means getting in a quick hill en route. This time I drove up to Bassenthwaite, the only Lake in the Lake District, with the intention of doing a Skiddaw round via Ullock Pike. But, with strong winds and biting hail, it ended up just being a very gusty walk up the Pike and back down. Still, nice to have my feet on a higher hill than the Downs.
Skiddaw and Ullock Pike on a cloudy morning, with just a dusting of white.Wildlife reward? Just one meadow pipit, and one sparrowhawk. Fair enough - it was a hard day for standing upright, let alone flying...
Ullock Pike on the left. Then Causey Pike, right to Grisedale Pike.
Longside and Carlside were tantalisingly close, but the wind put paid to my having the time to do the lot. 450 million year-old Ordevician rock apparently. "Noble", as Wainwright has it.Couldn't stand up at the Pike summit, so I put my feet up, supped some hot coffee and peered over my boots to the lake below..
Putting my feet up over Bassenthwaite
Back down through the sleet, over the lumps and bumps ... and on to Scotland.Saturday 19th Jan:A day of two halves, and again, not the day I'd intended. Complicated arrangements in order to catch up with a pal meant I ended up staying in Ballater. From there, I thought, with likelihood of fairly low cloud, a Hunt Hill day might be fun. But OS and Royal Mail between them took about five days to post the relevant map, so I didn't have one. Nor could I get one for the area until about 9am. Well, the day I wanted would mean an earlier start, so I shelved it for another day and made a plan B.
Plan B turned into an explore round Loch Kinord followed by a nip up Craigendarroch. Since I've never gone on a wintery lochside walk in the area, Loch Kinord would make a change. A compromise, since in my heart I wanted a hill day - (not one adorned with ski paraphernalia) - but it turned into a really pleasant compromise! That's serendipity.
The morning sunlight was gorgeous, no one was around, the snow softened every footstep through the mossy-birch wood down to the loch, and the trees were all a-chirrup with coal tits and blue tits.
Impressive head turn and catkins. (Apparently "catkin" has been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. I think that's sad. Mind you, juniors presumably Google/Ecosia I s'pose.)
Sunny view across Loch Kinord.
Lovely chaotic trees, warm sunlight and calm. (Not the intended hill-day, but who cares - this was beautiful!)
Treecreeper foraging just above the water
Nunatak aspirationsDuck island in the middle was mostly host to mallard and wigeon
(I ain't got a twitcher's lens.)and there were goldeneye about too.
Walking round the south side of the loch I was pretty bewitched by the light, and not expecting what was to come. Now and then through the trees I had a glimpse of the massif, but it was mostly hidden and the loch itself was stealing the show. A fella appeared, walking clockwise round the loch (I'd chosen widdershins) and we swapped a cheery hello.
On the north side I followed some animal tracks which might have been otter, leading to what looked like a holt, and when I looked up the world had disappeared.
So the morning half of my day of two halves had just turned into a half-day of two halves. If you follow. Balmy sunlit morning half, and eerie gauzy morning half.
The birches implored the sun...
.. the ducks did their thing...
and everything took on a different beauty. The fella from the sunny side reappeared out of the mirk and gleefully enthused: "Changed, hasn't it!"
Away from the water, I came across a Pictish cross, fenced in, so it wasn't escaping any time soon like the crannog in the loch has.
PM
Craigendarroch, above Ballater
After a bite to eat back in Ballater, I looked over at pretty Craigendarroch rising above the town to the north, its south face glowing in the now-returned sun and its trees looking a bugger site more birchy and natural than the plantation and mast feel of Craig Coillich opposite. So that was an easy decision. I didn't know whether there's a particular way up but walking towards it sorted that out and an opening appeared behind the school.
The walk up through the trees was lovely, easy and sun-kissed again, like the early morning. And at the top it was a joy to look over to Lochnagar and co which I'd really enjoyed last winter.
Sun-kissed winding stroll to the top.
Frozen lochan in Craigendarroch upper woods.
Lochnagar from Craigendarroch
Ballater and Lochnagar pano
Mount Keen
Mounth?
Craig Coillich and Pannanich Woods - there be capercaillie apparently.
West to Creag Ghiubhais
Deer coming in for a scratchOff to circumnavigate the hill - very pleasant.
Horsehoof fungus (like they found with the Iceman - presumably his portable fuel).
Craigendarroch's dark sideSunday 20th Jan:The next day was an impromptu visit to Loch of Kinnordy with bins - no camera - and catching up with my pal. Lots of whooper swans, more goldeneye and a bullfinch. But the first thing that caught our eye was gnawed tree stumps. I didn't know the beavers had made it here, but that was a great sight to see (IMO). I realise now they were reintroduced here a couple of years ago and started taxing the RSPB a bit to come up with solutions to keep them from damming up all the outflow from the loch. The RSPB fitted "beaver deceivers" a year ago to surreptitiously leak water out without having to dismantle the beavers' dams. (We saw the pipes but didn't know what they were at the time - now I understand.) Nice thinking!
Monday 21st Jan:Just in case I hadn't had enough reeds, I dived into the Tay's vast reedbeds on my way back south to see if I could find bearded tits (no sniggering at the back). And after making like a bittern through the reeds, there they were.
Beautiful morning at Tay reeds
Morning tuftiesAfter a walk through the trees, the huge expanse of reeds appeared. Ah. This was possibly going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack, albeit a needle that tweets (in the old fashioned sense). A notice informed me that it's the largest continuous area of reeds in the UK. No kidding. There are acres of them. They were planted originally by C16 monks as a defence against coastal erosion, and then extended by local landowners using Napoleonic PoWs.
Yikes - somewhere in here...Flocks of geese flew overhead and three roe deer emerged from the edge of the field to my left.
If pictures could honk...
Roe deer - this trip's only deer.
Making like a bittern
Ta daah - a little flock of five. Never seen them before. They were making a great little pinging sound. Their wings look mad and stubby, and that tache is great. In fact...
Escape from the Downs 2
Sat 23rd - Sun 24th Feb - one for another post.
