feeding frenzy

Happy New Year to you All.

Gosh what weather the world is having right now. Here in the Highlands we have had a couple of storms that have seen us loose slates from our roof. Fortunately we have been really lucky so far. I honestly cant remember the last day it hasn't rained !

Snow on the mountain tops, dark mornings and dark early evenings, make for short rain filled days. The Holly tree in the garden was abundant with berries in November but the birds have long since stripped it bare. So a stake with some hanging brackets and bird feeders stocked up, we were amazed  how quick the message got out there. The feeding frenzy began...... It wasn't long before robins, blue tits, chaffinch's, long tailed tits, goldfinch, wrens, great tit, coaltit were feeding away. Then lo and behold out of the corner of my eye I saw I mouse sneak out from the slate wall to gather some seeds(sadly he was too quick for the camera.)

 Of course all this frenzy of small birds in the garden plays havoc with the instincts of an English pointer. Sharing a few photo's Andy took earlier today. I wasn't quick enough with my camera.

Plastic

Had to share this video came across it at work.

After a shower

I am loving our new cottage by the sea in the highlands.
I can't wait to do all the things we have in mind.
The pictures below were taken in the garden after a shower of rain this morning.
It's a quirky garden we have a stream running through it, its on a hill with lots of slate beds and retaining walls.
Cracking on with the house just now, so just watching the garden grow this year to see whats there to surprise me plant wise.
Luckily the deer are staying the right side of the fence and my veg is growing :-)

3 hours by the sea :-)

It was such a lovely stunning evening last night, so after Andy and I finished work we decided to make the most of it and head out.Along with sparky we jumped in the car and headed to a spot I love.
The sea was calm the sun shone and we had an amazing walk along the coast found little coves ( I even rolled up my jeans and dipped my toes in the water, it was cold but was very very clear and the sand covered in mussel and clam shells).We saw oyster catchers,geese,a ringed plover,eider ducks,stonechat and our first swallow of the season.As we headed out onto the headland the wind whistled round us, the view was stunning miles and miles of sheer wilderness.
Sparky jumped and frolicked to his hearts content as a dog he has a life of riley. ( I thought Riley was a great name for our next dog, sparky needs a canine companion ).
We went to the end of the point and just soaked up the beauty of it all, on the way back we stumbled across a geocahe hidden under some rocks, my first experience of one of these.
We explored another bay did a bit of beachcombing collected a few shells and slowly headed back passing a fishing hut with a hell of a view.
As we got nearer civalisation we met a few folks 3 young lads having an impromptu bbq on the beach, a chap who had caught a sea trout, a young girl herding in a flock of sheep for the evening.
We clambered back into the car and went home to a supper of mackeral, fennel and green beans, washed down with a glass of rose.
Andy and I slept like logs  :-)

living in limbo ain't so bad

Hello, saturday morning here Andy got up at the crack of dawn to get high in the hills, perfect conditions snow on the tops, clear skies so off he has headed to do a peak,boots,crampons and ice axes
.......that leaves me with a saturday just me and the dog, so wee blog then chores then a long crisp winters day walk for me :-)
was just having a flick through pics and reflecting.We are renting at the moment and both feel in limbo, so was just reminding myself how nice limbo was, we put lots of bird feeders up and get all kinds of birds this blue tit is just one of many shots






















Oviously there are lots of highland cattle and this picture just seemed a stereotypical scottish shot.




















The house we rent comes with a very large garden, I was in my element love gardening,growing my own veg etc, so after a lot of work double digging and clearing an area, planting seeds galore, watching them grow.......along came a now very regular visitor and her young and ate the lot!



















And last but no means least ......the wee fella, Andy and I used to large dogs in our past labs,german shepards, then we aquired "Sparky" who has won our hearts over.
He is a great dog intelligent very bright and a very amusing character......he loves living in "limbo" great place for a dog a huge garden with lots of amazing sniffs...deer,mole,cattle we get them all wander through, he has the sea at the bottom of the garden and loves his daily walks along it( invariably finding something nasty and putrid to roll in )and miles and miles of hills and mountains to explore with us over the years to come.