Sparrowhawk

A Sparrowhawk visits the garden

Today about 1000 I went into the kitchen and got the surprise of my life, sat on the stump from the tree that was recently cut right back was a Sparrowhawk. He was just sitting there so I quickly called Sue expecting it to fly away at any second and wanted her to see it. It was lashing down with rain and very windy (gusts of approx 30mph)! After a few minutes I decided that he was settled enough for me to attempt to get a photograph of him. Went to get my camera and fully expected him to fly away (sods law they call it), lo and behold he was still there!! I even managed to open the window quietly to get these couple of pictures. It was impossible to take them through the glass as they were so wet with the rain on them. About 10 minutes after these pictures he went, glad to say empty taloned, as every bird he went for in that time he missed but it was a thrilling time for us watching him!! The total time he stayed must have been 25 to 30 minutes woohoo..............

This Crazy November Weather!!!

This is some crazy November weather, I took these photos TODAY!!!

These roses stopped flowering once but were then fooled into thinking it was still summer...

This camelia is thinking spring is here, the rest of the buds are ready to burst in the next few days.

This one usually flowers in April/May

This is a variety of honeysuckle that usually flowers ealy spring, the same time as the camelia

 This one has not stopped flowering at all yet.

This weather is really saving us some money on heating but is making me wonder what these plants are going to do in the spring? Watch this space and I will keep you updated on the camelia, you never know I may get some spectacular photos of a flowering camelia in December, ha ha....

Incidently this date 2010 the max temp was 6.5c and today it is double that at 12.9c and that is about what it has been most days, or more. We had only our second ground frost this autumn this morning and have not had an air frost at all yet!

Where we are?

This is where we live!

A few months ago a stranger knocked on the door and offered me this framed picture of the bungalow we live in for a bargain price of £40!!!

Me being me haggled a bit with him and got him down to £15, I must admit that having worked so hard haggling I did not have the heart to tell him I did not want it as I only rent the bungalow. I thought at the time I could show you all where we live.

A development since that is the owner of the house may buy it off me for £25, when I told him about it he was very interested, I just have to remember to show him it!! I have forgotten the last two times I have seen him, just call it OLD AGE hehe!!

Rusty.

Rusty, My how he grows!

As many of you will know Rusty is a corn snake, when I got him he was all of 10 inches long, he is now 44 inches, that is 112 cm.
He loves being handled as Shannon will tell you..........

Here he is in the middle of his weekly meal.

All 44 inches of him.

Dates to remember for November

Birthdays

1st Emily is 12
12th Glyn is too old to worry about
14th Denise is 56
17 Stella is 38
26th Shannon is 5
27th Brendan is 43

Anniversary

5th Sharon & Peter 7 years wed

Day 25, Sun 23rd Oct 2011

The final leg for us.

Sue and I were up and all ready by 0900 after bacon sarnies for breakfast, thanks again Jane!

Pet and us in car and off we go.

Stopped for Costa coffee at On the Run then stopped to get some milk and home just about 1200.

To sum it all up, we had a wonderful break and apart from one or two hitches all went well.

I forgot to mention that we did a total of 2,527 miles.

BROKE BUT HAPPY...........

Day 24, Sat 22nd Oct 2011

Well the end is here, for Mike anyway.

Sue and I were up and had the car packed before old lazy bones stirred again!
We got away before 0900 and had a relatively uneventful journey, a small hold up around Stafford due to a pile up on the northbound. Stopped at Frankly for lunch and then Mike drove the rest of the way back to his place.

We had a lovely dinner, thank you Jane.

Went to Nathans to get Sue's new pet, thank you Nathan and Libby, then back for an early night. No problems with keys at least lol.

Day 23, Fri 21st Oct 2011

The End is Nigh!!

Well the last full day of our holiday is here so Sue and I are going for a wander around Dumfries as there are a couple of thing we want from town to take home with us. The town has not changed much over the years and we were home by lunch time.

Had the best chinese take away since we have been on holiday.

Then packed ready for departure for Mike's tomorrow.

Day 22, Thurs 20 Oct 2011

Tour of Dumfries & Galloway.

UGH! only 2 days left so decided to show Mike some of our favourite places that we had visited in the area. We set off firstly for New Abbey, to visit Sweetheart Abbey (picture 1, fish-eye lens), had a look around the outside of the fence as they had started charging since we were last here! 90% can be seen anyhow from outside!

The natives are friendly at least (picture 2).
From here we stopped at a pottery that Mike pointed out and then never even came in, mind you it was pokey lol!
We then followed the coast road on round via places like Kirkcudbright, Gatehouse of Fleet and new Galloway until we got to Galloway Forrest Park.



Here we visited the Wild Goat Park, where 50 or 60 goats stay although there are estimated to be several hundred roaming wild in the surrounding mountains.


It is a real education watching the goats climbing this rock face as though they do not have a care in the world, as of course they do not!

We had lunch here before heading for home.

Day 21, Weds 19th Oct 2011

Caerlaverock Castle.

After another morning for coffee at Jan's Sue and I went for a ride towards Annan calling at a few places including Caerlaverock Castle (above). Quite a grey day but at least it is warmer and dry..

Day 20, Tues 18th Oct 2011

Moffat and the Grey Mare's tail.


We took a trip out to Moffat, of the earless ram fame, and had a look around. It was a bitterly cold day and it was even snowing on the mountain tops. We did some shopping there, especially in the Moffat Toffee Shop, rows and rows of sweet jars, our heaven! Had a roll and cake for lunch there.....

From there we went on up the valley (picture 1) to the Grey Mare's Tail water fall (picture 2) which has a drop of over 200 feet or 60 metres in forign currency, this is the highest cascade in Britain.

Too cold to stay out for too long so off back to the cottage for heating on and lovely meal cooked by Sue.

Day 19, Mon 17th Oct 2011

Windy on the Nith.

Spent the morning with the owner Jannette nattering, oh she can do that ok! It was a good time catching up, we have known her for about 15 years now and we are like old friends.

This afternoon was very windy and with the combination of that and a very high tide it was spectacular to watch!

Day 18, Sun 16th Oct 2011

A day of rest!

We just had a relaxing day in today so nothing to report....

Day 17, Sat 15th Oct 2011

From Fearn to Glencaple.

Sue & I were up dressed and had the car packed before Mike had even stirred! When he eventually rose we all had breakfast, finished packing the car and were on the road about 0830. Sat-nav took us on the back roads so as to miss Inverness and we arrive by the side of Loch Ness at Drumnadrochit to pick up the A82, the road we wanted to follow most of the way to Glasgow, via Fort William.

1st picture is Sue overlooking Loch Ness. The rain had stopped just long enough for a photo shoot!

We stopped for coffee about 1100 before continuing to Fort William for lunch. Oh Mike and Sue did get a very definite sighting of a Hooded Crow, we had seen ones that I had spotted but as usual my eyes were a lot quicker than theirs! Makes up a bit for my ears then, I hear you say, perhaps HAHA! Mike also saw Ben Nevis for a short time (also his first time) before it was once again shrouded in cloud. After lunch we continued on down what I consider to be the most picturesque road in all of the British Isles and that is the A82 from Fort William to Glasgow. It takes in Glen Coe and then up over the Trossachs and all along the side of Loch Lomond. When we got near to the bottom of the Loch I thought it was about time Mike had a drive, well we were nearing Glasgow ha ha! The road became quite boring for the most of the rest of the journey and in a services I took the helm again (south of Glasgow of course) as I knew my way through Dumfries to the next venue, via Tesco for supplies.

We arrived in good time for tea at "Martha Shaw Cottage" making ourselves well at home in this far superior, to the last one, accomodation.
These 2 pictures show the cottage and then relaxing in the late afternoon sun!

Day 16, Fri 14th Oct 2011

The last full day at Hill of Fearn

After yesterday it was a fairly quiet day with me popping off to do a bit of birdwatching in the morning at the RSPB reserve at Nigg.

Following lunch we all went into Tain to have a look around and do a bit of shopping. It was noted that Sue spent nearly 25 minutes in 1 shop whilst Mike waited outside, ha ha!

A quiet evening and early bed after packing ready for a reasonable start in the morning, weather forecast is poxy!!!

Day 15, Thurs 13th Oct 2011

A wonderful day in the West Highlands


We set off straight after breakfast on a lovely still day, a little cloudy but lovely and warm. You can see how still it was by the reflections in the Loch. (1st picture)

We had a lovely run up to the highlands with traffic being almost non-existant!!!

The roads were mostly single carriageway with passing places once you got away from the A9. This was the A838, (2nd picture) you can take it from me that the B roads were a lot narrower and twistier than this! We followed the A383 north to Laxford Bridge, the A 894 to Newton and then the B869 along a very scary twisty road to Drumbeg where we stopped for lunch overlooking a bay that was dotted with lots of small islands. Here we actually found a public toilet that was open (tmi).

After lunch we moved on to a viewpoint between Clachtoll and Rhicarn (3rd picture) that was marked on the map. What a stunning view of the peaks in the distance!!!

THEN JOY of JOY's we saw first 1, then 2, and finally 3 GOLDEN EAGLES!!!!! (pictures 4 & 5) They were circling in the distance coming ever closer until we had some really good views of them, unfortunately we did not have time to get the scopes on then as someone was in a hurry (not to miss pointless). Had it been just Sue and I we would no doubt have remained there considerably longer.













Ah well as we moved off (Mike driving) it was time to head for home so we continued to the end of the B869 then the A837 all the way back to Inveran and Invershin, pausing to look at Ardvreck Castle, (15th century home of the McClouds) and home to the cottage hardly pausing for breath!
Sue cooked a lovely meal and we collapsed knackered, but what a great day, I had waited 62 years to see a Golden Eagle in the wild, then to see 3 was fantastic..........

Day 14, Weds 12th Oct 2011

A day shopping in Inverness.

Woke to another lovely day and the sunrise was spectacular!

Off to Inverness on a mission to search for a bottle of Glengoyne single malt, this is a whiskey that can vertually only be bought in Scotland and is on a par with Glenmorangie, if not slightly nicer, in my book! this will save us a 150 mile round trip one day next week to get one!

Had lunch and did a bit of shopping at Tesco while we were there, then back to the cottage for a rest as it is a big day tomorrow going to the west highlands in search of the elusive golden eagle!

Day 13, Tues11th Oct 2011

Visit to Dalmore Distillery.

We got fed up with sitting about and as we had no option but to go to the supermarket as we had run out of ordinary whiskey, we combined the visit to Dalmore with it as it
was next door almost at Allness.

The car was really complaining all the way there but made it, we were early as they did not open until 1100 so went away and got shopping and then went back.

Above is Mike & Glyn around what they know best, Lorries and Whiskey Ha Ha! £5 was a bit steep we felt for the tour but turned out to be good value as it was much more comprehensive than the Glenmorangie visit. Mind you we were a bit peeved you did not get the cost of the tour back against a bottle of malt as you did at the other.

The two raspberries resting after the tour (left)




Dalmore is right by the Dornock Firth and a lot closer to those oil rigs that we went in search of last Friday, the staff at Dalmore were telling us that the positions of these can change from day to day.


Well the car was fixed this afternoon, at last and sounds great after the noise it has been making for the past week or so. WOOHOO

Days 10, 11 and 12, Sat to Mon 8th to 10th Oct

A few lazy days, the weather was nice and we did a bit of shopping and went to get fish and chips but did not want to totally knacker the car!!!!

Day 9, Fri 7th Oct 2011

Falls of Shin and then Nigg.

Woke to a beautiful day so off we set, early for us, to the Falls of Shin. It had a very good write up. Turned out to be a very commercialised attraction but at least the car park was free and so was the visit to the falls. Quite a walk down to the actual falls for the old raspberries but they got there in the end! Mike found some steps for me to go down so that I was right by the water. We saw one or two salmon jumping in the river but none tried to go up the falls which they are famous for. Still it was a beautiful warm day and lovely scenery.

Left is the last bit of the falls into the pool.
This is me at the Falls of Shin as Sue says there are not nearly enough pictures of me in this blog!!!




Just goes to prove that Mike will put his finger in any hole, (right) even if it is wooden Ha ha!!!.














Left is the steps above the main falls for the salmon to go on climbing

We then went back home to the cottage for lunch.

Sue did not fancy going out in the afternoon so Mike and I set out to look at a very large flock of Whooper Swans that we could see from the cottage, must have been over 1,000 of them?

From there we decided to go and find some metal pillars that had appeared in sight of where we were staying. It turned out to be what you can see below and is an oil rig repair area in the Cromarty Firth.

We also found a RSPB reserve near Nigg, apparently the Nigg to Cromarty ferry is the smallest vehicle in the world, or so they claim!

One question from Mike! He was wondering what you call the people who "live in Nigg" I will leave you to draw your own conclusions?

Left are the oil rigs in for repair.

More of these next Tuesday?

So back home again and the noise in the car is starting to scream at us so I decide reluctantly to take it to the local garage. Turns out to be a wheel bearing gone and he will order the part for fitting next Tuesday afternoon and advises that we can use the car but would not advise going very far in it. Looks like a less busy time for the next few days. I am sure we will enjoy the rest so just doing shopping and a max of 15 miles distance at a time.

Day 8, Thurs 6th Oct.

Glenmorangie Distillery at Tain and Portmahomack

This is a day Mike and I had both been looking foreward to, both of us love Glenmorangie Single Malt Whiskey. The first thing that we learned was that for all these years we had been pronouncing it wrong! It is pronouced like the citrus fruit, orange with an m on the front and a y on the end, we had always said with stress on the or!!!

Mike and I paid our £2.50p for the tour and Sue would go on the next one if we thought she could make it as Babs warned us there were a lot of steps!! Well she was right I counted 121 as I went round. I do not know that Sue was capable anyway as she had been sampling the whiskey while we were away. For someone who professes not to like whiskey she had done quite well LOL ........

Left is Mike in the still house.

Right is Sue outside the still house using the wall for support Ha Ha!

Then back to the cottage for lunch.

In the afternoon Sue and I went off by ourselves to see a couple of potteries, too expensive for our taste though, to be polite!

Then we went off for a ride to Portmahomack in the Dornock Firth. Not so rough as Dunnet head but then it is not the Atlantic.


That noise is still there, getting more worried now!

Day 7, Weds 5th Oct

A lazy day in at last.........(some hope)!

All I did in the morning was go to the shop to get a paper for Mike and then watched the flocks of whooper swans, pink footed and grey lag geese flying over, masses of them.

On the way to the shop I noticed the noise Sue mentioned but hoped it was just a brake pad rubbing against the disc? ..............

Not as much rain as they had forecast but very windy.

In the afternoon we went to Tesco in Tain to do some shopping and called into Glenmorangie Distillery to see what time they opened to go and have a look around tomorrow.

Day 6, Tues 4th Oct

Visit to John O'Groats and Dunnet Head............

Well so much for a lazy day in!!! The weather forecast is not at all good for tomorrow so decided it would be advantageous to go out today.

After breakfast we set off for JOHN O'GROATS and when we got there it was very windy and cold, as can be seen by the way we are all wrapped up.

As we were up this far we decided to go to The Castle of Mey which was the Queen Mothers home in Scotland, unfortunately it had closed on the 30th September, as it seems most things do this far north! We then decided that as we could not lunch there we would go on tho Dunnet Head which is the most northerly part of mainland UK.




This is the proof (left) that we made John O'Groats and boy was it cold and windy!!!

This is Dunnet Head lighthouse (right) the most northerly part of the mainland.

The sea here was very rough and we all loved watching it.

This was going to be a late finish, heaven forbid Mike may even miss Pointless!!!! LOL

On the way back Sue noticed rather a disturbing noise coming from the front of the car, me being a little on the hard of hearing side I did not so thought she was hearing things or imagining it. More of that later.

We got back just in time for Pointless much to Mike's relief and I was dispatched to get a "chinky" for tea................

Definite lazy day in tomorrow, knackered now!!!

Day 5, Mon 3rd Oct

Woke to a beautiful sunrise and visit to Dunrobin Castle........

We were up and breakfasted by 0900 and then decided to go to Dunrobin Castle as it was not too far away up the coast and had a falconry display.

When we arrived we parked right by the door (thanks to the blue badge) only to find out that the falconry display was about 1/2 a mile away walk down a load of steps but woohoo as 2 of our party were disabled we could drive there. So off we set and arrived with 5 minutes to spare.

It was a lovely display with the birds flying among the spectators and were so close you had to duck at times as you felt they would hit you.

Below is Andy Hughes the falconer with part of Dunrobin Castle in the background.

After this we went and had a look around the castle.

Mike and Sue with the lovely tame Eagle Owl (below).






Had a super fish & chip lunch in Golspie sat overlooking the Moray Firth then a bit of shopping and home for a relaxing evening and a wee dram............



Full day today so lazy day tomorrow!

Day 4, Sun 2nd Oct

Knackered so a chill out day.........

We rested today as we were all knackered from all the travelling!

Sue cooked us a lovely roast pork lunch and Glyn slept most of the afternoon (no change there then LOL).

Only showery today.

Day 3, Sat 1st Oct

The last leg to Hill of Fearn..........


This is the cottage we stayed in
Upper Midoxgate Cottage.


Below is the view from the front door.




We left Cumbernauld around 0930 after breakfasting well in the pub next to the hotel, guess what it was raining haha....

We stopped for a snack in the Cairngorms at a cafe and stopped for shopping at a supermarket in Allness on the way. It continued to rain all the way to Fearn!!!!

We had a bit of a problem finding the cottage because of the remoteness of it but got there in the end............

Well the cottage was warm and comefortable when we arrived

After settling in for a while we went to Tain and got a chinese meal for tea and chilled out for the evening

Day 2, Fri 30th Sept

The day we reach Scotland

We were up at 0430 to set off at 0500 and got away at 0510 with Sue and I leaving all our toiletries behind!

We made very good time (better than any of us thought) and were at Lymm truck stop in Cheshire by 0900 for breakfast.

Sue and I had planned a surprise for Mike as one of his wishes for the holiday was to meet someone we had all known for several years on facebook, June Perkins, who lives in Halkirk in northern Scotland about 16 miles short of John O'Groats. What Mike did not know was that June was on holiday at Morecambe.... We just told him we were going to Morecambe for lunch, we stopped at Lancaster to to buy some cakes to take with us and June was supplying the rest of lunch. After a bit of a search we found her caravan park and eventually her!
A funny thing happened while there as June's husband Dave had not seen us bring in the cakes, after eating a lovely sandwich and a bit of pork pie I fancied a custard slice that we had bought and said so,

Glyn and June.

Dave also is very fond of these and had some in the fridge, you should have seen his face when I said I fancied one and he thought I was going to have one of his!!!! Bless him he was quite willing to let me have one of his but the relief was great and plain to see when he realised that we had brought some with us, he even gained one as we brought two and I only ate one........

Sue and Dave.

After about 3 very enjoyable hours with June & Dave we set off again for our hotel for the night in Cumbernauld, NE of Glasgow we arrived about 1645.

One point to note is as we crossed the border into Scotland it started raining and continued to do so all the way to the hotel, is this an omen of things to come?

Mike and June.

After we settled into the hotel we then went to the pub next door for an evening meal. Then back to the hotel to shower and relax before bed.

Day 1, Thurs 29th Sept

Set out after breakfast to Mikes in Coleford Somerset to arrive before lunch and meet Jane!

Had trouble getting the key to the guest room but eventually got them!

Early night as early start tomorrow x

Dates for October 2011

Birthdays

3rd Keaton is 17
4th Lisa (Glyns foster or 8th child as she is just like one of my own) is 27
7th Alice (Liz's Daughter) is 15
18th Wayne is 43
19th Ben (Richards son) is 22
19th Ashleigh (Richards Daughter) is 16
29th Nick (Lindy's partner)
31st Nathan is 38
31st Martyn is 36

Wedding Anniversary's

30th Lee & Lucy

The camera saga!!

Well lets go back about 18 months ago my camera packed up and we were in no position to get it fixed due to lack of funds.
About 8 months ago we got the money from DWP so I decided it was time to do something about it and got an estimate, £120 to £150 and decided to leave it a couple of months as it was not urgent.............
So a month ago I decided it was time to get it done ready for when we go on holiday to Scotland on Sept 29th, alas due to Sony having taken over Konica Minolta some 2 or 3 years ago they no longer make the spares for my camera!!!!! Not a happy bunny.....
It is funny how things work out as I had, a little while ago bought Sue a new digital SLR for a present, either for birthday or Christmas, and it was a Sony Alpha 350 as all my lenses fitted it and we could interchange. I had noticed for some time that Sue had not been using it much and the reason was that with the arthritis in her hands it had become too heavy and painful for her to use.
Problem solved now I use her camera and Sue can carry on using the light ones that she has prefered of late!
Thank you so much Sue, I am sorry that you can no longer use it but it means I have a very good camera to use on holiday, I love you honey xx

Dates for September 2011

Birthdays

4th Lennon (Gary's son) is 8
8th Alex (Sharon's step-son) is 11
8th Robyn (Wayne's daughter) is 20
9th Sharon is 44
12th Emma (Gary's wife) is over 21 yet again!
15th Debbie (Wayne's wife) is also over 21!
15th James (Sharon's son) is 20
24th Damon (Gary's son) is 19
25th Gary is 45 (if I remember correctly)
25th Lucy (Lee's wife) is not as old as Gary!

Wedding Anniversary's

27th Mark & Nicky's 14th (Sue's son)
30th Martyn & Sarah's
30th Glyn & Sue's 17th