Slipping in a quickie (Days 347 - 353)

Day 347 - Trees up

Well I'm blogging a couple of days early between my Christmas visitors leaving and New Year visitors coming. Christmas week is always hectic - I have no idea how it manages to sneak up so quickly when I  have 12 months notice of it arriving each year. But I finally got my tree up on the 22nd just before my mother arrived.

Day 348 - Bananas

I must admit to being a bit 'bah humbug' as the shops are so busy and commercialism appears out of control. My cupboards are full despite my best efforts to cut down and the whole thing seems to be a bit bananas to me!

Day 349 - Mystical tree light

Working right up to the wire with a full workshop on Christmas Eve brought the usual winter challenges of managing the weather and keeping clients happy.  No problem with this group as they came fully prepared for the weather and nothing was going to dampen their spirits.

Day 350 - Otter has fish starter for his Christmas lunch

Christmas Day and a lovely walk along the beach.  The sun shone in between hail showers and a large dog otter sat lazily eating his lunch as we stood and watched.

Day 351 - Boxing Day dook

These brave and hardy souls joined in the annual Boxing Day dook at Lamlash pier.  A quick swim to the end and then a climb up the ladder before launching back into the drink.  Some wore full wet suits whilst others fancy dress or normal swimming costumes.  The RNLI provided safety, along with mulled wine, soup and cakes. There was a great turn out to watch the fun. Definitely worthy of two photo's.

Day 351 - Jumping off the pier

Saturday saw a beautiful sunny winters day with fantastic light and snow capped mountains.  A tad chilly on the tops with the wind freezing ears and noses, where hat and gloves were essential. But the views were spectacular (an album of the mountain pictures will be posted on my facebook page tomorrow).

Day 352 - Frozen mountains

And today everything was coated white - no snow just very thick ice.  Again the skies were clear and it was beautiful for walking with the camera and taking lots of pictures.  Now home with the stove lit and tea in the oven.  

Day 353 - Frozen wonderland

Sunshine to snow in a day (Days 326 - 336)

Day 326 Pebbles on the beach

The first of December and I can now start thinking about Christmas.  All the usual lists to make for food, presents and Christmas cards.  Only really noticed how much stamps had gone up when I bought 2 books of 2nd and a book of 1st class and proffered a £20 note, to be told it wasn't enough!

Day 327 - Paws for thought

Today I followed the fresh footprints of an otter along the beach. Easy to spot as the prints have 5 toes and are bunched in these groups of 4 paws.  Despite looking hard, I never saw it today.

Day 328 - Nosey dog

Trying to sort out my kit after another wet day and the dog had other ideas.  He wanted his tea.  So I snapped his nose!

Day 329 - Eat responsibly 

We often hear about drinking responsibly, but what about eating responsibly.  Today I listened to the news as it talked about the NHS crisis and obesity.  Ironically I was cooking a roast chicken and noticed the packaging stated it 'serves 2'.  This small chicken weighted 1.25kg and fed me for 4 meals (+ soup from the carcass).  Why do supermarkets feel the need for this type of labelling, and if they do it why such large portions?

Day 330 - Hardy sailors

In between hail showers the winter sun was bright but I was still surprised to see a couple of hardy young men out on their small sailing boat.  Working hard with the spinnaker they tacked across the bay and provided my students with lots of photo opportunities.

Day 331 - Young swan

The swans around Lamlash and Whiting Bay are easy targets for my camera and this cygnet seemed to enjoy my attention coming right up to the camera for some close up shots (will be posted on facebook at some time).

Day 332 - Wagtail

Another foul weather day with heavy hail showers and it never really got light.  I was helping to do a wetland bird survey so couldn't avoid being out in the rain today but snapped this little male wagtail who has decided to stay put for winter.

Day 333 - Snow

Although I know there has been snow on Goatfell for a couple of days the tops have not been visible due to low cloud and this was my first opportunity of the year to snap the winter scene.

Day 334 - Student dashing for cover

The sea chucked debris up, the rain lashed down and the wind howled but my students this week have been nothing but stoic in their endeavours to take photographs.  I think most have been pleasantly surprised at what can be achieved in the worst or worst conditions.

Day 335 - Road block

Even the swans gave up today and took to the high ground at Whiting Bay as Scotland was 'weather bombed'.  The storms were ferocious and we suffered power cuts but surprisingly little damage.  And of course no ferries for a couple of days.

Day 336 - Sand blasting

Still windy today and I got caught out (again) by one of the nasty hail squalls.  I resist calling them hail stones and it felt more like hail bricks and the sand was lifted to add to the misery of having my skin frozen and sand blasted all at the same time.  Pebbles balanced on little towers of sand and it was blown away around them.  So really the week has been all about the weather but then it is winter so we really can't complain.

From chicks to otters (Days 143 - 152)

Day 143 - Herring Gull on Pladda

After baking in the sunshine on Day 142 (fortunately for the wedding goers), Sunday saw torrential rain and temperatures plummet - just the day to spend on the little Isle of Pladda with a few university students.  For those who don't know, Pladda is uninhabited and only reached by boat.  However, this is a privileged position where I get access to breeding birds and one not to be missed.

Day 144 - Anything is worth a try in the battle of the midges!

Monday is supposed to be a little quieter now that the collage course I was teaching on has finished but it seemed as frantic as ever - maybe because my Mums coming later in the week and the house is in a bit of a mess - remember the lovely wood burning stove (Day 133), well it had to come out again along with the fireplace.  But I did go shopping and bought some yeast - not for baking - I'm going to make some midge catchers.

Day 145 - Liz - looking good while I took some light readings.

Tuesday and a job photographing Ian and Liz from the Lamlash Bay Hotel. Liz was very relaxed as I took some light readings before the real thing.

Day 146 - Out of the hatch pops a little chick

The chicks are hatching at the Dougarie Estate and are so cute.  There seem to be chicks around everywhere at the moment and the pebbled beaches are alive with the different stages of breeding.

Day 147 - Guillemots nesting above Kings Cave

A quick jaunt along the coast today before picking up Mum from the ferry and having a closer look at the black guillemots nesting above the Kings Caves.  Occasionally visitors report they have seen penguins on Arran - I'm pretty sure this is what they have seen as they can waddle along in a quite upright position and for a 'non' birdy person it may look very much like a penguin!

Day 148 - Mum resting on an ornate bench in Brodick Castle Gardens

Today, I spent the day with Mum and we had a lovely time in the sunshine going around Brodick Castle gardens and enjoying lunch on the Castle terrace.  There are many amazing and unusual plants to be found along with the Bavarian summerhouse.

Day 149- The fireplace - now residing in the shed.

The predicted storm arrived today and we had planned for it, with a quick trip out in the morning before the rain arrived.  What I didn't plan for was more problems with the stove and water seemed to be tracking down the chimney and running off the top of it! Anyone need a lovely wooden fireplace?

Day 150 - Highland Cattle

The storm was short lived and we managed another lovely walk today - I'm enjoying a few days off - with a picnic in the bag.  I have to say the picnic included a cake - another plus of Mum coming.

Day 151 - Another bucket this time for the kitchen ceiling!

I got an unexpected shower today after swiping what I thought was a bit of dust stuck to the ceiling in the kitchen, with a tea towel. The swipe released the pressure building up above and released a small chunk of plaster along with a bucket full of water!  I clearly had a leak. Emergency plumber called and all sorted now. Thank goodness the plasterer hasn't come to finish off the stove yet.

Day 152 - An otter stays long enough for me to get a shot (only because I had the camera to hand).

And today I saw and photographed an otter.  These beautiful creatures have been a bit elusive lately so I was really pleased to see it - not so pleased that an Oyster Catcher let it know of my presence!