Out of My Area: Cairngorms National Park

When you've had a tough couple of weeks and you feel like you've had no time to yourself what so ever you have a number of options, carry on regardless like there's nothing up, take some time for yourself to truly relax, or (like I decided to do) stress yourself completely by having 3 early morning calls ups, driving 600 miles, meeting complete strangers, and tramping off into the unknown.

My antidote for the last fortnight's frustrations was to pack up the car and head first to meet friends at Pitlochry to check out the dam and fish ladder (now known as the "Damn Fish Ladder"), then up to Lossiemouth on the banks of the Spey, then down to the Ladder Hills to conquer a couple of Corbetts, then back to work this morning. And you know what, It was damned good fun. Here are some pictures. I'm going to bed!

The "Damn Fish Ladder"!

My wonderful hosts for the weekend, Lou and Daz

R. Tummel

Me and the Fish Counter 9000

Out over the Ladder Hills

Lou and Glen Livet

The Motley Crew

A Cairn on a Corbett....

Elusive Sunshine

And the Black Grouse...

The Best of Autumn (so far)

I know, I know, I've been lax on the posts recently. This has been one hell of a busy time with loads to do at work and the onset of the rain keeping me indoors, but the sunny days have been good, and the migrants have begun moving through en masse giving plenty of excuses to run away on a lunch break and get out on the boats with the boss.

So in no particular order, here are some of the highlights of the last two months!

The spate of wet miserable days has bought plenty of birds to the feeders

They're so used to me now I can fill the feeder next to them and they don't move a muscle

There have been great foraging opportunities particularly the wild blackberries and mint

And boat trips continue to turn up feathery friends including guillemots

...razorbills

A couple of Uni groups gave me excuses to escape the office and enjoy good weather

providing great views even if we occasionally had to lure the birds in

Many of the younger birds are all too keen to get up close for a free meal...

...their curiosity are general cheekiness mean that the gulls still star in most of my pictures

Going to Ballochmartin Bay after a tip off from the Boss of big group of Merganser yesterday I found 8 Little Grebe foraging along the shoreline

.... along with the Merganser themselves

New Friends and Name Dropping...

Hello from the South! Today's update comes fresh from the first ever Wildlife Xpo, exhibitions and lecturers organised by the wonderful Wildlife Extra.

Setting out this morning with my wonderful assistant Rachel, cameraman Matt and a huge packed lunch we made a beeline for Alexandra Palace. 

If you fancy going along next year be prepared for a range of stalls from well known charities, tour operators, optics manufacturers, artists and local interest groups as well as wonderful talks from Chris Packham, Andy Rouse, Mark Carwardine, Nick Baker and Bill Oddie. Wear comfy shoes and bring enough liquids as its blooming warm inside and the park is well worth a walk round (we spotted jays, green woodpecker and numerous others just on the way to and from the train station). 

Keep your eyes peeled as you wander round, you don't know who you'll bump into

There's also the chance to get involved in debates about current issues in conservation (if you can get a word in edgeways)...

...and to make a few new friends.

Unfortunately we missed the moment where Nick Baker photo-bombed the picture...

Scoff from the Sea 1 - free scallops and hand picked black berries

Last week on a particularly low tide I happened to be down the slipway cleaning out some of my tanks, when what should I see laying amongst the exposed Laminaria, but huge tasty Queen Scallops.

Scallops are usually either hand gathered (expensive) or dredged (ecologically questionable) so when a guilt free, zero food miles option comes along, I'm a happy girl. Not one to turn down a free meal, I rinsed out my bucket and got gathering, popping them into a free tank to see if the survived the night.

After checking with Jim at the marine station that their being so far up the shore was due to nothing life threatening to me, I bagged up the first 4 and brought them home. Stopping on the way to pick some of the first ripening blackberries.

It was my first time prep-ing scallops and I have to say its not for the faint hearted, but the prospect of fried scallops, onions, garlic and chorizo and finished off with wild rice was just the incentive needed. All I needed to follow it up was my freshly made black berry and apple crumble. Brilliant!

The trickiest part is opening and cleaning the scallops, which continue to twitch after opening

These beasties were huge, and were more than enough for me.

Ta Da, Scallops and chorizo with garlic and wild rice, followed by apple and blackberry crumble. Genius!

Familiar Faces at the Feeder

I finally got round to putting up my new feeders a fortnight ago. After a few days of nothing much, they were found by the locals. Since then they've really taken off (so to speak) with regular visitors including finches, tits, robins and my much maligned jackdaws.

A bird in the hand may be better than one in the bush, but its those I'm helping through the winter that I'm most proud of. These are MY back garden birds.

The most regular visitors are the neighbourhood Great Tits

Enjoying the nut feeder I'd put out in hope of tempting the woodpecker

They're frequently joined by Blue Tits

and flighty Chaffinches

As well as furtive Coal Tits

One out, One in. Manners are key at the Ravenscraig feeders.

Not so nice to wake up to; the local Jackies announce their arrival with a deafening squark!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

... your office mate distracts you from your coffee with a phone call about the world's second largest fish blogging about in Kames Bay. Needless to say coffee was abandoned and I set off at a run along marine parade (totally disregarding my camera). Luckily it hung around for over an hour and thirty minutes, giving me plenty of time to not only nip back and get it, but to call everyone else and tell them about the beastie.

At around 3 meters in length he was only a tiddler, but this probably made him braver in the shallow water of the bay.

Feeding with his mouth wide open, he filtered out the zooplankton brought in on the tide.

Having the shark so close in let everyone get a really good look.

As the evening wore on and the tide ebbed he headed out past wee Cumbrae, following the food.

Back to Buisness

Well folks, its nice to be home and have settled back into the old routine of lab and reading, reading and lab. Shame that I'm not still enjoying the thrilling sights of Mull though. The second trip was a real beauty. fantastic weather on the boats (if a little harsh on the skin - I looked like a tomato). The second student group were really nice and made the practicals really easy to manage (particularly when the boss comes too so all I have to do is look after the students who are seasick and snap happily away!

The trips on board Sula Beag were also joined by three guys, Chirs Gommersall, Alex Mustard and Raymond Besant, from the 2020VISION project, aiming at capturing ecotourism in action. Check out the site, I know I felt the lens on me at some point, who knows, maybe I'll end up on there....

Note: the best way to motivate students is suspended chocolate....

One of my favourite sea birds, the gorgeous Kittiwakes were around all trip.

Gannets occasionally circled the boat, giving me clear enough shots with my 50mm lens, before heading off to feed

The Harbour Seals eyed us warily before they too slipped into the clear water

But if there was one star of the second trip, despite the rafts of Manx Shearwaters, the Bonxies, the solitary Storm Petrel and the unfortunately dead Risso's Dolphin, it was the gorgeous Arctic Terns.

Always to fast for a clear picture

But close enough to be properly admired

But now its back to work, the rain has set in, and I have dissections to do. Shame really.