17.05.2026

 It`s not often that being pummelled in the face by horizontal, freezing rain can seem humorous but the other morning, on the top of our little hill (all the poor old dogs can really manage these days), headphones on, I caught the weather forecast, and I quote:

                "sunny spells, scattered showers, mostly in the south-east"

Sounds quite benign really, almost as if it was the middle of May.  No mention of driving northerly winds,  rare glimpses of a watery sun obliterated as soon as it makes an appearance by thick, roiling black clouds which chuck another bucketful of hail at the windows. 

I hesitate to call the weather fickle as that seems to imply some dark motivation but there seems no better word for what`s been on offer this Spring. 

To be fair, April was better.

A long planned reunion with some old (in both senses) friends was a lovely interlude, walking in the Yorkshire Dales and even a barbeque (perhaps taunting the weather Gods) 

A gathering of friends and family back here on the ranch, intent on some building work, probably enjoyed the best week of all weatherwise with only one slightly damp morning. 

Theoretically two friends and I are "in training" for a big charity walk in June so there have been a couple of walks with that in mind:  one in and around Kirkhill Forest and Tyrebagger Hill which included The Tappie Tower, 

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/aberdeenshire/kirkhill-woods.shtml 

and on Monday a quick trot up Dunnydeer Hill, the remains of a medieval castle at the top being a familiar and distinctive landmark locally.

 Another walk is planned for this coming week but we haven`t done anything near the length of the actual event next month. At least as I type this the weather is forecast to be slowly warming up though there may still be showers.

We`ll be complaining it`s too hot any day now. 

Tuesday 24.02.26

 So whisper it but a week on from that last post we have had two days of early springlike weather. The sun`s been out with some real warmth in it, the breeze has been a bit chilly but has helped to dry everything out and the snowdrops are everywhere. The daffodils on the other hand are being a little more cautious as yet. 

Most noticeable has been the bird activity. Yesterday there was a group of male blackbirds hanging out together in and out of the gorse but it can only be a matter of days before they start singing fit to burst from the top of those same gorse bushes and fighting tooth and nail, no, beak and....beak, to mark out their own bit of territory. A couple of sparrows have already taken up residence in the eaves and any time now, hopefully, the skylarks will be giving it laldy over the top of our hill. 

The woods are still "out of bounds" because of the forestry work currently going on but there`s something special about plodding to the top of that hill two or three times a day, watching as Spring finally arrives - though if we get even a little bit of what New York is enduring at the moment it can still be put on hold.  

Tuesday 17/02/2026

 A month on and it more or less stopped raining yesterday. For about 12 hours. Then it snowed.

Positive points today: it may have snowed overnight but it`s been a beautiful day, sunshine, quite warm sunshine; just enough snow to make it pretty but not an existential threat and lots of bird activity. In fact took binoculars out and wandered up to watch the flocks of excited little birds darting in and out of the gorse at the top of our field. Turns out it was a convivial collection of sparrows, yellowhammers, chaffinches and possibly a blue tit or two, keeping each other company as they flitted about. they can obviously sense us edging towards more light and Spring.

Hate to anthropomorphize too much but it was like they were having a bit of fun before the serious breeding season arrives.

 

 

Sunday 11/01/2026

 And so it snows...tiddley pom. And snows  And blows. And snows some more. This has been the real McCoy (who was he): we haven`t seen snow like this for a long time. But, even though snow is the main theme, that can look very different by the day. 

Four days ago the afternoon walk, with one dog who was keen (the other didn`t budge from the fire) was a slow unsteady steal along the road, trying to avoid the ice. The snow banked on either side by the tractors and ploughs that had pushed through had reached heights of 7/8 feet in places and, because they were frozen and vertical, didn`t offer much escape room, should one of those tractors appear. 

On top of that the cloud had descended, creating a slightly haunted atmosphere such that gates and fenceposts seemed to loom out of nowhere and familiar trees took on weird spectral shapes.

We did have to dive out of the way of a 4-wheel car and trailer and later a tractor, moving steadily up the hill, two headlights blazing, but we managed not to get squashed and made it back to the fire.

 Woke up to a completely different scene on the following day - pure winter wonderland. Blue skies, ice-encrusted trees, white fields and obliterated road signs. Still icy underfoot but we made it to the crossroads and back before the sun disappeared.

 Yesterday we had both: a gloomy start and a bright end.

And today we`re at the a*** end of this lot I think. Blowing a hooley, cold and grey, more rain than snow, the remainder of which is beginning to avalanche off the roofs. Most folk will be getting back to normal by tomorrow but up here could be a while before it clears completely......and there`s "sleet" in next week`s forecast. The joys. 😉

Saturday 3.01.2026

 The New Year has roared in like, well, more of a snow leopard than a lion. We are (happily) marooned for the time being, allowing time for reading, thinking, resolving (as is appropriate for this time of year) and acknowledging just how privileged we are to have food, heat and no urgent appointments.

After three days of being battered by the weather, horizontal snow drifting across the road, carving itself into fancy shapes and blocking every entry and exit (something actually exacerbated by the snowploughs that come through every now and again, heaving the excess into any available gateway and piling it onto the verges so the wind can simply blow it across the road again), 

 

so after all of that,  today the clouds parted, the sun shone brilliantly across acres of sparkly white and the wind eased back a little.  

We (me and our two increasingly limpy, tired old dogs) walked to the top of the road (the top field being inaccessible, the snow too high for them to push through)) and savoured the winter wonderland vista, all the while wincing as what breeze there was (moderate the Met Office called it - ha!) threw handfuls of snow at us, mottling the dog`s black hair. 

 

Bracing would be the word, though none the worse for that, refreshing would be another though I suspect the dogs could find others. They know we are about to make one more foray out there and as I write are avoiding my eye and stretched out as near to the fire as they can, playing dead. However, nature calls (for them obvs), I can hear the wind getting up again, there is some blue sky left but the clouds are regrouping and the light is beginning to go so once more unto the breach. 

Meanwhile, the resolutions are the same as every year: good books are still being written, (currently on Ian McEwan`s What We Can Know, an uncomfortable but I suspect prescient account of the dystopian future we might be walking into), there are films to watch, music to listen to, podcasts to stimulate the brain and more winter wonderland walks to be taken. Watch this space.

Postscript: survived the final stroll, just in time to see the moon emerging from behind a cloud. A rather magical moment: icy, momentarily still, a peaceful interlude.

Monday 10.10.25

 A quintessential autumn day: this morning misty and spider-webby, 

this afternoon the sun broke through and there was a couple of hours of warmth, then a sudden drop in temperature as the sky caught fire in the west. Ben Rinnes was a sharp  silhouette on the horizon against the last of the red sunset and there was a suggestion of smoke in the air as we took a last walk around the top field. Storing up these autumnal evening walks to remember when we get days and days of grey.

Monday October 6th 2025

 Such a warm benign day for picking up the reins again....could still be June. After the ravages of Storm Amy (the "first named storm of the season" as they like to say) today has been warm (20 degrees and counting), still and sunny, blue sky and white clouds. The birds have emerged again having presumably survived the storm by hunkering down: playful crows dancing across the fields, swirls of starlings and a buzzard floating lazily overhead searching for supper.

Since the last post there have been festivals, catching up with family, working, much driving up and down, some walks (of which more in a bit), celebrations, parties and the arrival of a new member of the clan: welcome to Ursula who arrived without too much drama just 9 days ago.

One thing that has become clear over the last few weeks is that the old dogs are no longer up to long walks round the woods or up mountains. They could both sleep for Scotland, at home or in the back of the car, they don`t seem to mind, as long as they`ve had gentle trots up onto our back field and have been fed. Thus it is that, left in charge of the homestead for the last couple of weeks, I have accompanied them on their regular ambles across  the fields and, Storm Amy notwithstanding, it has been mostly a gentle way to spend half an hour or so two or three times a day. 

Indeed tonight, making the most of the  ever shortening days and after a brief rain shower, it was almost magical. The sky turned dramatically gold and black and red and it was still very warm, humid in fact thanks to the rain. 

Tomorrow it`s an early start for a long day at work so the "amble" might have to be a bit smarter in the morning but if it stays like this we`ll have time for another evening wander.

Meanwhile I`ve got to start reconciling myself to longer more strenuous walks unaccompanied which will feel very strange.

 

 

Monday 09/06/2025

 The last time I started posting something was ninth of May and we were in the middle of a heat wave. This is what I wrote:

"Drought! Water shortages! Hose-pipe bans! In May? In Scotland? Granted it`s mainly gardeners who are muttering this as yet but it is also true the weather has been quite remarkable over the last few weeks. 

There have been cold winds, there has been some rain but Spring 2025 has outdone itself. The gorse is currently at peak golden just as the broom emerges with a paler shade of yellow (cue song? yellower shade of pale?) but without that rich coconut smell of the gorse when the sun burns into it."

 

At which point life intervened and I never got any further ........

Well the heatwave`s over as is the gorse: even the broom is getting past its best.  As I look out just now it`s raining quite hard but it could stop at any time: we`ve been having random showers for days now.

When the rain isn`t tiddling down it makes for excellent walking. Yesterday it held off all day: fresh breeze kept the warmth of the sun comfortable and the air was thick with the scent of damp earth.  Trees are mostly in full-on summer attire now and suddenly the ground is carpeted in blue speedwells, buttercups and dandelions. There were swathes of cow parsley giving off that slightly sour perfume and a multitude of grasses of all shades and shapes. Butterflies, bees, warbling chaffinches, martins and swallows flitting about over head. Actually felt about right for early summer - seasonal even, or "normal for the time of year" as he weather forecasters sometimes say though truth be told normality may have to be re-defined.

Since the 9th May and today there have been trips away - notably to Dublin for a gig * and briefly to Belfast. There have been visits to one grandchild and the news that there is another on the way. The Festivals are looming - Glastonbury but a week or two away - and a double birthday celebration planned with family gathered who haven`t been able to get together for quite a long time. Gigs with friends ** and enthralling books (see https://splendiferousstoriesheadyideas.blogspot.com) and all the time, watching with dismay some of the things that are going on out in parts of the "real" world.

However, hope springs eternal ........and walking-quite-fast sometimes helps restore equilibrium.   Onward and upward!

 

 

Monday 10.02 2025

Not long back from a few days @ Celtic Connections which  always has a trick or two up its sleeve to surprise and delight. Two quite nostalgic gigs, one celebrating the music of David Crosby and the other The Band. A brilliant evening with the Bog Bodies which I`d only booked because of the name but they were excellent - fiery `heavy` folk sung with passion and humour. Highly recommend. Peatbog Faeries, again, but how ever many times you see them their gigs offer something new and Transatlantic Sessions as good as ever with the bonus appearance, unexpected to me,  of Loudon Wainwright. And I managed to fit in a viewing of A Complete Unknown*,  more nostalgia but a new take on a famous moment in musical history.

 Another raw, grey, still day - a particular kind of winter`s day. Yesterday was the same, the kind of light that brings out the lustre of the lichens and mosses, enhances all the different greens and browns. 

And the cold air seems to carry the smells more sharply too - of silage and muck being spread as well as grassy, earthy aromas that carry the suggestion, just the suggestion, of things beginning to come back to life

Poor old dogs struggle to go too far too often without suffering for it at the end of the day, although they`re always enthusiastic enough to set off, so we`ll keep it shorter today.

*https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11563598/

Friday 17/01/2024

 Bearing in mind we`re surely not finished with snow and ice, took the opportunity to head for Bennachie on a cool but fairly benevolent day.

Felt a long time since the last walk up here but as always it was worth it: deep breaths (quite a lot of deep breaths on the steeper bits) and I missed the dogs - both getting a bit old for some of these jaunts now. They`d do it OK, still jump up when their leads are rattled, but they`d be very very stiff by the end of the day. In dog years (do we believe in them?!) one has just turned 98 and the other will in August, the upside being that when they`re not walking or eating they`re sleeping so don`t need a lot of attention. Taking on younger dogs would - will, eventually 😉 - be a whole new ball game.

Anyway, cobwebs were blown away, the climb up and down was done in a respectable time and it`s sometimes just good to be reminded how lovely the world is.

 

Thursday 16.01.2025

 It is so rare that there is no movement of air at all on our hill that it can feel positively mystical when it happens, whether it be one of summer`s endless days or, as tonight, a mild January evening. When the sky puts on a proper show it only adds to the magic.

January has done its usual trick of stealthily arriving at its midpoint while the world has been shaking off the lethargy of the descent into the shortest, darkest days. At least it always seems to come as a pleasant surprise at this stage to realise that while the fireside has often been the best place to be, the days have been drawing out and the snowdrops are emerging.

The last three days have been remarkably mild but during the last few weeks we`ve endured the coldest temperatures of the winter so far, very very cold some days; blizzards; torrential rain and, for some, ensuing floods.

Last week the amount of snow we had left us virtually locked in - not just the depth of the snow but the extreme cold which made moving about - on foot or in vehicles - problematic. So, to avoid the deep snow in the woods, there more road walks, affording fabulous Winter Wonderland views or forays through the deep snow in the top field, a proper work out.

 

Yesterday almost all the snow had gone and the woods were once more accessible. Walking on solid ground again comes a relief as do the greens and browns and greys. Pure white is all very well but you can have too much of it.

Thursday 14/11/2024

Good brisk walk this morning: a late autumn day that was cool, slightly overcast and calm, some leaves still on the trees but probably more bare branches now. In the woods as the sun emerged it felt a little warmer and there were still clouds of hovering gnats. 

The sun was already casting long shadows at not long after noon - it doesn`t tarry long at this time of the year - and by the time we got on the homeward path a brisker breeze was picking up, foretelling the change in weather that`s due. But it was a good, head-clearing jaunt.

It also helped to get the legs working again after a BIG walk on Sunday.

It would probably have been wiser not to go to bed late the night before, then, after about 2 hours sleep, drive over 100 miles to get to the titchy car park at the bottom of the path that leads up Schiehallion* 

It took a certain amount of moral fibre to get going as we were shrouded in cloud, it was damp, cool and we were knackered. However,once we set off up the path and the blood began to flow, we were congratulating ourselves at our early-ish start and deciding that the cloud would not deter us.

It was eerily still so we were a little surprised to realise that as we gained height we were walking out of the clouds and able to look across to see mountains on the horizon, the distinctive "nubbin" (technical word 😉) on the top of Clachnaben very clear. It also gave me and my climbing companion the perfect chance to strike dramatic poses......

Soon got our come uppance though as we continued climbing: we hit the notorious boulder field and found ourselves once more in cloud with a keen breeze picking up. Did spot - and hear - a couple of ptarmigan, already almost completely white which of course made them stand out - not quite what nature intended but the snow is on its way.

The boulders weren`t so bad going up the mountain (they would prove more of a challenge on the way down) but they did seem to go on for longer than we anticipated. Also, though we knew about the "false tops" it was much harder to assess how we were doing in the cloud. One enthusiastic young man tore past us at one point in an attempt to beat his friends to the top only to realise .... it wasn`t.

So a small congregation of us at the top, somewhat huddled in the increasingly windy and very damp conditions, a quick toast to our success (and to J.T.A. & H.C it being Remembrance Sunday) and it was time to get back down.

And as we tottered over the boulders, battling what was by now quite a strong wind, and got back onto the well marked path, Schiehallion relented: the clouds cleared, the wind dropped and we were rewarded with the most splendid autumnal views to make our descent.

Be good to go back when we can see from the top but all in all it was a memorable day.

*Schiehallion is not only a mountain of folklore and legend but also "the mountain that weighed the earth":

 https://www.scottishgeologytrust.org/geology/51-best-places/schiehallion

Monday 4/11/24

 A walk-for-ever sort of a day yesterday. So we did. Completely still, the overnight work of legions of spiders glistening in the sun.

As we set off for a longer walk, realised the wind turbines in the distance were completely motionless. 

Been a while since we walked up to them so it seemed a good destination for a change of scene.

 

 A  track between fields, with occasional glimpses of these behemoths standing sentinel,

 

then almost suddenly plunged into gloomy, damp forest, more spiders, (where are they all?!)

incongruously bright mossy decorations

and all the while being beckoned on by the turbines.

Once up close we wandered around between a few of them - simultaneously impressive structures and slightly sinister the way they just stood there......

 

 

 

 

until, as we began to retrace our steps, the whole thing became even more eerie as the blades on the one we were approaching appeared to shift. Thought at first it was a trick of the light but as we stood and stared upwards it was obvious that without warning, without any discernible change in the air, noiselessly, the blades were, indeed, almost imperceptibly beginning to turn. It was completely mesmerising.

It was as if someone had waved a wand.  All around us, one by one (though not all) the turbines began to wake up, either turning the blades or repositioning the way they were facing (which I have subsequently discovered is called the Yaw: "the rotation of the entire wind turbine in the horizontal axis") Fascinating.

Also a very good thing that we were there on a balmy autumn afternoon.

As we got back up on to the road and looked back it was possible to see that first one now bowling along merrily while others began to catch up, turning at different speeds (or some still not turning at all). All in all an education and an inspiration to find out how they actually work. Love to imagine Terry Pratchett style figures sitting inside what I now know is called the "nacelle", (though I don`t know how to  pronounce it) keeping an eye on the prevailing weather and making adjustments accordingly but I fear it may have more to do with algorithms.

Thus entranced we returned home as the sun gently began to sink lower and lower

briefly setting the trees on fire before finally disappearing.

Thursday 31/10/2024

 Clocks back on Sunday and yesterday afternoon it felt like the world was settling down, easing back, ready for long dark nights ( when we`re supposed to have time for jigsaw puzzles and long classic novels). It was mild, the air was still and rich with autumn scents, the sky a kaleidoscope of greys and blues, yellows and white but nothing moving apart  from the sun moving slowly towards the horizon, the light diffusing as it did so.

Today, woke up to more beautiful colours but in contrast the wind was stirring things up, sending the leaves whirling down and around as we yomped through the woods this morning, some of the trees almost completely bare quite suddenly. 

Then a final tramp up on our back field as it all came to a stunning finale: the sun slowly descending, creamy low-flying clouds tinged with gold spreading across the sky and, almost incongruously, a thin line of jagged black clouds sitting angrily on the horizon. A strong but strangely mild wind swirled around us and as the gold gradually turned a vivid scarlet, it would have been no surprise to see the hag on her broomstick silhouetted against the sky as she made her rounds this Hallowe`en. Back indoors the appropriate measures had been taken, just in case.

 

 

On Tuesday took another walk up Bennachie, Oxen Craig this time though I`d forgotten just how many steps there are on that route which is a lot harder than shuffling up. Still, a good view of Mither Tap as you pause for breath and it was a perfect day.

                                                                                               

When I came down I found the picnic spot where there`d once been a significant birthday party with lots of family and friends. Empty this time and with plenty of time before I had to get to work (hence no canine company which always feels a bit strange) I sat in the sun and watched the leaves floating to the ground.Privileged moments.