A FEW WARTS. (13/01/14)

It rained again overnight but by dawn the wind and rain had been replaced by a beautifully sunny day.

I should have taken Bertha out as I saw a Red Squirrel, a Dipper and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Maybe not, it was a long walk and my seeing and getting an image are usually poles apart.   What remains of a railway outside the old aluminium smelter. If I follow in it’s general direction after a few hundred yards then I get to this old shed.

  I thought it was an old locomotive house. Apparently it used to be a slaughter house. It is also a large image at 1.5MB. I’ve checked and it should be half this size. Strange are the workings of Photoshop sometimes.

North Star. The square building under the trees on the horizon is the newish Pumped Storage Hydro plant. Scottish planners have a cavalier attitude to planning. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be there but it would be less conspicuous were it a green colour.

The new bridge and the houses built to house workers at the smelting plant. These are good houses. They are grouped together and look okay. I detest the ribbon development and the tacky prefab timber frame houses that dominate so many areas.

The River Foyers, not a breath of wind. If you follow the reflections on the right hand side to where they stop that is where the Dipper lives. If it’s anything like tomorrow I’ll take the big lens and try for it’s picture.

   This is the campsite, the van and the brand new bird feeder, the site is brand new so at least my feeder fits in. The last one was lost in the floods. I must remember to claim on the insurance as all four feeders were full at the time. The feeders were posh RSPB ones the stick was past it’s sell by date and almost past it’s use by date. The new stick is a beauty and cost seventeen pounds including two pounds for an extra hook. The birds think it is wonderful. It took some finding as I like the ones with a spike on top for sticking apples on. Spikes are not all that common on Scottish feeder sticks nor are apples on this one as I forgot to get any last time I shopped and have only one left. I did get prawns and a load of salad stuff. Lord knows why, even on a sunny day it’s more stew weather than salad weather.

Tomorrow is my last day here so I’ll do a bit of birding and waterfalling. I was going to head for Skye but I've had enough rain. I’m going to Braemar, the Queen has a house there so it must be a good place and I bet a pound to a penny the skyline is not blighted by windmills and overhead power lines.

Have fun.