What a grand morning! With 40mph winds and poor visibility we knew we couldn't go up Cairngorm, so we headed south west from the base station, keeping to the lowest paths, so we could get the longest walk before climbing into the cloud. An excellent, if not breezy, morning with lots of nice lichens and club mosses (next blog).
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| Red Grouse.. |
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| ..with spectacular 'eyebrows'. |
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| Knackered!...bless him. |
With an hour or so before daylight began to fail, a quick walk at Loch Garten...
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| Gorgeous Caledonian Pine woodland. |
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| There was a chilly breeze off the mountains. |
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| Textures of Pine bark. |
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| And as we departed - the sun came out. |
The Insh Marshes are a 10 sq km nature reserve of the river Spey floodplain and they provided pleasant stop on our way to Nethybridge. The lichens on the trees were spectacular and you got the feeling if you stood still for too long, you too would be encrusted!
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| Looking over the marshes. |
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| Patterning on the fallen Aspen leaves .... |
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| A good lichen blob! |
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| And a Snow Goose! |
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| We then drove along through Insh to the loch... |
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| More nice mosses and lichens. |
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| Hoof fungus. |
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| The bird at the back is a Smew.... |
Another glorious day, so a walk with a friend and her dog, Red. Mawbray never fails to deliver.
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| Looking across to Criffel. |
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| Little Egret. |
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| An exposure of red clay. |
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| Many of the groynes are worse for wear! |
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| Red... |
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| As it was coming up to high tide, we skirted inland to avoid disturbing the birds. |
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| Popping our heads slowly over the top of the grass.....plenty of Oystercatchers. |
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| Together with Bar-tailed Godwits. |
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| As usual though, a dogwalker let his dog run through the roost....a real problem at this site. |
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| Looking inland - the snow is disappearing. |
A glorious late afternoon walk, with snow on the fells as a perfect backdrop.
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| Splendid Skiddaw. |
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| Female Stonechat. |
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| Pinkfeet in formation. |
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| Hair's-tail Cottongrass - nearly over. |
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| Reflections. |
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| A wintery veil. |
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| A possible painting... |
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| Sunset. |
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| And some Whoopers in the evening light. |
