Hogmanay:Swans a Swimming

Pale end of year sunshine catching the distant white wings of swans on flooded fields at Pitblae

The year ends with waterlogged and flooded fields providing temporary swimming pools for swans, ducks and geese, and with flocking pigeons, rooks, starlings and geese  scavenging in the stubble.

Philorth Woods: Boxing day walk

Sunlight on the treesby  North Lodge where noisy rooks were making seasonal adjustments to their nests and squabbling mildly. Elsewhere in the wood we heard strident pheasants, gently cooing pigeons and the chirping of the many small, highly active  small birds, tits and finches, in the trees, too rapid for precise identification.

The low sun caught the tree trunks and highlighted the red brick chimney of the old gas works by the pond.

Pale spears of wild garlic poking through the leaf litter, colourless but already  smelling faintly of garlic

Newly emerging lesser celandine leaves

Alders on the flooded north edge of Flagpole Plantation.

Possibly a male scaup (?)swimming on the flooded field

The field between the wood and Philorth Halt was completely under water, there was a flottila  of gulls and the single duck, pictured above, is it a scaup?

Christmas Greetings

Christmas Greetings from Grey Granite and Rufus to all their followers.

Christmas Eve walk

This morning was remarkably bright and sunny, a complete contrast to recent dreich days. We had intended to walk from Sandhaven up to Craigmire and back through Broomhills or Mains of Pitullie. However,  flooding on the road near  Craigmire promised  even more watery obstacles   down the farm roads. Yesterday the road to Rosehearty was closed and Phingask and Murison Drive, Rosehearty, was under a foot of water as the Swine Burn predictably failed to cope with the run off from waterlogged fields. This state of affairs is not new,  Grey Granite's friend recalls it happening  regularly since 1929.

We were prevented from walking towards Peathill from Sandhaven by this flood across the road at Craigmire.

Not a canal but the road down to Pittendrum awash with run off from the saturated fields.

Swamped fields behind the Mill of Sandhaven.

Along Shore Street in Sandhaven some houses had sandbags piled up against the front doors, the coping stones had been swept off the dyke, the drying greens were strewn with boulders which were being collected in baskets and thrown back into the sea. There were great banks of tangle and a scattering of rocks on the pavement at the Mill end of the village.  All this is nothing in comparison with the flooding  in Stonehaven where the River Carron burst its banks with devastating results and along the whole of the East Coast where roads and railways were under several feet of water. 

Flight Behaviour

Following the heavy rain of the past few days  hours every hollow has a temporary lochan and already there are dire predictions for next year's harvest of autumn sown grains. 

The spire of Fraserburgh South Church and the tower of the Dalrymple  Hall rise out of the haze over the sea.

Not as dramatic as the scenes at the shore a week ago, but there  was again a huge swell, huge piles of seaweed and other debris on the sand and swollen Kessock Burn gushes onto the sand.

Grey Granite is currently reading Barbara Kingsolver's excellent and thought provoking novel, Flight Behaviour. Against the background  of this disturbing novel of climate change the extreme weather patterns of the year  take on a more sinister aspect than just a run of seasonal storms.

Cairnhill Rosehearty: December Flowers

A cold but beautiful winter day with  a weak sun, high cloud and very little wind, hard to imagine the fury of the wind a few days ago. We took advantage of the good light and calm weather to walk 'Round the Horn' from Rosehearty. Cutting across the Cairnhill we were able to look down over the town to see the yellow digger and gang of workmen already repairing storm damage to the pier.

Along the short section of path from the War Memorial to Cairnhill Road we found these flowers still in bloom. daisies and gorse were also flowering, despite recent frosts and  the ravages of last weekend's storm.

Charlock (Sinapsis arvensis)

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

White Fumitory (Fumaria capreolata)

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

Purple Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum)

Shepherd's Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris)

Prickly sowthistle (Sonchus asper)

Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea)

Meanwhile, in the trees by Pitsligo Castle, rooks flew about their nests and quarreled noisily.

December daffodils

Not quite the shortest day but, already and encouragingly full of promise, daffodils at the base of  a warm, south facing dyke are pushing through the ground.

Sandhaven Harbour

The combination of high tides and strong winds caused storm damage at harbours along the East Coast and  Moray Firth. Locally this  included  extensive damage to the harbour wall at Lossiemouth, and  a car was swept off the harbour at Collieston  

Damaging  waves sweeping over the already crumbling harbour wall at Sandhaven

Fraserburgh gale

'Have you seen the mighty flail 

Of the roaring North East gale

Drive the billows to destruction

On the rocks off Buchan Ness?'

The ferocious seas which are aftermath of the yesterday's gale reminded Grey Granite of the lines quoted above. They are from Buchan Beauty by Peter Buchan.

The photographs were taken at Fraserburgh this morning, as the wind was starting to drop.This was described by the Meteorological Office as being 'the perfect storm' and has caused extensive damage down the East Coast.

 The lower photograph was taken at about the same point as the oystercatchers in the previous posting.

Oystercatchers and redshanks at the Broch

Oystercatchers and  a redshank (centre) on the shore near the outflow of the Kessock Burn on Fraserburgh beach. 

This particular spot is often  a popular feeding place for waders, especially when the tide is fairly high. This morning there was a large flock of oystercatchers,  at first sight standing still just above the highest wave point. Some birds were standing on one leg and it soon became apparent that they were actually alternating between jumping up and down on the spot, then standing still for several  seconds, presumably in the manner of blackbirds on  a lawn, trying to lure sand worms to the surface. Grey Granite has never observed this before. A small flock of redshanks ran about the shore, occasionally dashing through the oystercatchers, their feeding technique seemed to involve frenetic scurrying about combing a relatively large  area of beach expending far more energy than that of the oystercatchers.

There were no oystercatchers on the Links today.

Nacreous Cloud over the Broch

This extraordinary, bright cloud formation  appeared over Fraserburgh yesterday  afternoon at around 16:15, just as the last of the light was fading. It persisted for about 15 minutes before being obscured by dark clouds. According to  a report in the Press and Journal for Monday 10th December the cloud could be seen from across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire having formed at very low temperatures -85c high in the stratosphere.

This extraordinary and beautiful cloud has been identified as a nacreous cloud and despite the beautiful, rainbow colours it contains, it is not good news.The cloud consists of greenhouse gasses,  formed by excess methane released into the atmosphere reacting with the ozone to form chlorine clouds. The cloud reflects sunlight from below the horizon and so appears to shine brightest just after dusk. Such clouds are normally seen only in polar countries, global warming being responsible for them appearing over Scotland.

Similar clouds have been known to prompt reports of UFOs

Downtown, where all the lights are bright

Grey Granite went late night shopping in Aberdeen and, enjoyed the hustle and razzmatazz of the city, including the Salvation Army Band and young drummers outside Marks and Spencers. There was just enough snow remaining on the pavements to add to the atmosphere, all that was missing was a roast chestnut seller.

Union Street Lights 

The decorations along  Union Street were very impressive,  a total contrast to the abomination of tacky plastic snowmen, reindeer, penguins  and Santas which blight so many Fraserburgh gardens at present.Is it because we live so far north and mid winter days are so short that there is such an obsession with festive lights?

Strichen:The White Horse, whiter than white

 This morning there was a mere dusting of frozen hail on the roads in Fraserburgh, gradually thinning towards the sea so that the Links were green. 

It was a very different picture inland at Strichen.

Bridge Street, Strichen. The Hunters' Lodge on Mormond Hill stands out particularly clearly and the snow filled  horse is whiter than usual.

The frozen lake at the Lodge

Kew Gardens and Peathill: contrasting Sunday walks

Grey Granite spent the last weekend of November in London, travelling down on the sleeper on Friday, returning on Sunday. Between the train journeys was a busy, social weekend spent in Kew.

Grey Granite was pleased to escape the interminable traffic rush and noise of  London  by snatching a brief visit to Kew Gardens catching the last of the afternoon light to do so. In the Gardens it was relatively tranquil, despite the screeching of the green parakeets which are now a feature of this part of South London and the noise of Heathrow  air traffic. There were astonishing splashes of colour, Grey Granite thought that the rusty leaves on the tree in the background echoed the red brick of houses in the streets between Kew Gardens Station and the actual gardens. 

Quintus, standard poodle friend of Rufus, enjoying a romp in Westerley Ware a dog safe recreation ground between his house on Kew Green and the river.

Back home: a boat enters the Broch Harbour.
Returning to Fraserburgh on Monday morning , Grey granite was very aware of the crisp air quality, wide open skies  and sounds of the sea, all of which she missed in London.

Monthooly Dookit from Peathill.

This morning, in contrast to her Kew Gardens walk of a week ago, Grey Granite  and Rufus walked  from Peathill  along  one the most familiar and tranquil of all routes, the circuit , past Lochbuy to Coburty, round by Little Fisherbriggs, Craigiefold and Holland Park and back to Peathill. 

 The morning was cold, there had been showers of hail yesterday and wreaths of frozen hail still lay at the back of the dykes, Mormond Hill was thinly white as were occasional fields towards Tyrie and Boyndie. Walking up the Knoggan Hill road we were aware of the silence, so different from the perpetual traffic noise of Kew, broken only by lowing cattle and at one point to the chatter of a small flock of corn buntings on the telegraph wires near Lochbuy. There was a remarkable absence of geese today.

Bright flowers on a dykeside gorse bush. 

Sandhaven Shorebirds

The receding tide in  Sandhaven Harbour exposes banks of seaweed which are a favourite roost for gulls. This morning we noted busy oyster catchers scurrying in the weed - in contrast with the  placidity of the assorted gulls, almost all standing facing into the wind. They included herring gulls  (pale pink legs), yellow legged common gulls and black headed gulls (bright red legs) which now have their winter plumage - thus no black heads. There were a few eiders pottering in the shallows and beyond them in deeper water a pair of seals appeared to keep a curious eye on events on shore.

Beyond the harbour there was a big swell, ridden by rafts of eiders. The rocks between Sandhaven and Pittulie are favourite resting points for cormorants and shags. 

November

A weekend of frosts and blue skies bringing  the constant overhead clamour of geese and swans and the smell of wood or peat smoke as one passes houses. The first real frost of the season iced over the puddles, renewing Rufus' fascination with breaking the ice and sliding about on puddles. 

Frost crystals icing willowherb leaves.

The resident starling population has now been boosted by winter migrants from the continent, behind  Phingask and Sandhaven in particular, they congregate on noisily on telegraph wires, shape shift as they move down to pick over seaweed on the shore and retreat to their evening roosts at the boatyard.

Sunshine on almost leafless sycamores at Peathill

An unexpected splash of colour on these nasturtiums growing in the frost free shelter of a shed at Merryhillock