Conic Hill and Loch Lomond wildlife

Last evening I had a lovely walk up Conic Hill on the eastern side of Loch Lomond. A quick midweek blast of exercise, some fresh air and a good opportunity to catch up on chat with friends. As summer winds down it is now getting dark around 9 o'clock but the trip up Conic is short steep hike from the Balmaha car park, ideal if you've got a spare hour or two. Last week we walked up as a family in glorious sunshine with a picnic so took ages longer and spent a decent amount of time enjoying the immense views in every direction. On the way down yesterday we met a few local coos, lovely large bulky Highland Cattle, a perfect Scottish scene.

Highland cattle are of course a domestic breed but the goats I saw on my previous lochside walk up near the north end of the loch are feral, there seems to be quite a healthy thriving population and are a common sight for walkers on the West Highland Way.

The next photo was taken rather quickly of an unknown creature in the water. It took a bit of time to realise we were watching a mink swimming just off shore carrying dead prey which appeared to be only slightly smaller than the mink itself. After swimming, the mink scampered across the beach and headed behind rocks to better cover. American mink have no natural predators, save man, in this country and are a result of the generations following escapees from mink farms as far back as the 1920s. The mink population have become a nuisance in parts but I was intrigued to watch it as I've never previously seen one.

And finally, has anyone any knowledge what this skeleton is from? Photographed just north of Inversnaid on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond. I spotted it when walking day 3 of the West Highland Way. It seemed far too pristine to be real. Any ideas folks?

New Beginnings

What do you mean that doesn't look like the sort of holiday place you're thinking of for a dream vacation in Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park? The patio areas certainly need a good sweep and, if there were any windows, they would need a good clean so that you could see the splendid views.
RENOVATION WORK STARTS 16th MAY 2011, hurray!
The sun is shining and we are very excited at the prospect of renovating these lovely but very very tired buildings and creating two tip top holiday cottages for visitors.
The plan is to create this. As you can see by the date of the archive entry this has been 'work in progress' for a long time. Lots of unremarkable reasons for that - life work family balance - but we are really keen to see these buildings brought into vibrant and viable use and to share this lovely part of the world with a few people. We'll post more detail on the design and construction approach in due course but, yes, they will have the same high standards as the house we built 3 years ago (can't believe its been that long!). We'll be adopting the AECB silver standard as a target for high levels of thermal efficiency and air tightness to ensure excellent comfort levels for our guests and to promote a more environmentally conscious approach to renovation and building.

In the meantime here's a few moments of Spring beauty present at this time of year...

daffodils at the very end of their prime, blossoms coming forth on the fruit trees...

clusters of primroses in the shady spots...

and a wee bit more apple blossom to show how pretty it is. We planted some fine old varieties of apple 2 years ago to create an orchard and I'm pleased to see that is really taking shape and providing interest now. We planted a mix of culinary and dessert apples and hope the mix will provide a decent long season of apple picking for us and our guests.

Not so much a blog as a weather report! Lots of fog, freezing the air and the ground, weakening the already weak sunshine. Creating a big fat inversion layer above Loch Lomond but allowing the grandeur of the mountains to rise above.

More news next time, we're just catching up with life and activities disrupted by the winter weather and preparing for the next lot. The fire's lit, we're warm and we're getting ready for Christmas. Best wishes.

Frost and Fog on Snow and Ice

Morning sunrise, deep frost, nippy on the skin, beautiful to view. Then engulfed with fog which has ebbed and flowed across the landscape. As the blackbirds retrieve haw berries from the tree and the ground I wonder if its liking eating frozen peas, do they chew them somehow to extract the goodness? Wondering how that works. I've put more seed out for them. There's a weak sun trying to break through to warm a few parts of the ground but there are some areas which never catch the light at this time of year.

To the south and east we have blue sky, to the north and west there is deep fog, wonder which will win out today? Loch Lomond is immediately north of us and the moist air above the loch often creates a dense inversion layer, very pretty to view from the Dumpling (hill pictured below) when you see the hills in full sun rising out from the dense white/grey fog.

Yet more snow....

At 6.30am I woke to the sound of heavy rain on the window, and smiled at the thought of the slight warming outside which must have lead to this phenomenon. It didn't last long as next time we looked out of the window there were huge, fat snowflakes falling in swathes. Within a couple of hours we had fairly deep fresh snow, school was closed as none of the staff could get there and the roads were impassable for a period as the snow had fallen on top of ice which made the inclines too tricky. Another day at home - nice in so many ways but becoming a real problem for workers. The football goal with the extra bit of snow clinging to the net.

We topped up the bird feeders and sprinkled some seed on the top of the snow. The blackbirds were budging each other out of the way to get to the seed and we also had plenty of starlings, blue tits, robins and chaffinches.

We made our first ever Christmas pudding mix at the weekend and heaped it into 3 basins which have been steaming away all afternoon.

Molly made black banana loaf - a Nigel Slater recipe she was keen to try having seen it on tv last week. The 'black' being chips of chocolate. For some bizarre reason the children aren't keen on bananas but are quite happy to eat them in cake form.

I made sticky toffee puddings, one rather large one earmarked for a pre-Christmas family feast and four small ones for after dinner today.

We've been playing in the snow, Finlay is standing on the snow which has fallen from the roof. The late afternoon brought freezing fog but its great to get outside and enjoy the fresh air, however much we enjoyed all that baking.We've been to see our hens, who are not impressed at the limited amount of snow free space they can find under the hen cabin.

The new inhabitants on the farm, escaping from the fields for a while. We renovated a barn this summer so there is good space to accommodate the sheep this winter.

We've had a fine day, plenty of activity but it would be nice to get back to normal life!

Snow

Last Saturday night the first, and unusually early, snow arrived. Its truly beautiful and very very deep. As its immensely cold theres not much likelihood of the snow disappearing very soon. Bit tricky to get out and about.

Snow clinging to the branches of a corkscrew hazel, quite earie and its quite amazing that such a depth of snow can cling to skinny twigs.

The pitch of the house roof is a relatively steep 45degrees so, although the snow sits there initially, when the weight gets too much the whole lot slides in great avalanches with a humungous roar and tumbles onto the footpath. At some point on Sunday night after more heavy snow fell we were awoken by the biggest racket when a huge amount of snow came off the roof. Its exciting when you're safe and warm inside.

As school was closed a gang of us met in the local park. Great fun but pretty darn cold. There is a bit of tricky balance, its great having a bit of time off, walks out and fun in the snow, staying close to home and exploring the changed landscape...but catching up with work here and there is not ideal after day four of no school.

The beauty of Ben Lomond enhanced by the snowy scene. A complete blanket of white. The sound is also dulled and its enormously peaceful.

I'ld also just like to link here to Caireen's post at patchwork dress for some more local photos.

A different sort of egg-watch

Generally the British are fairly weather fixated - usually, as people say, because we get so much of it. Chez nous we've always been obsessed, partly because we work in the wind industry, partly because we use the sun to heat and power this house and least importantly 'cos I've always fancied being a meterologist. Anyway right here right now its only 4degC, sleeting and with winds over 40mph....and its May for goodness sake!

The piccies are of the oystercatcher which has laid 3 eggs on the stones just outside the preschool nursery in the village. Its causing a bit of mayhem as the eggs are just next to the front door so people are having to use an alternative entrance. Its a great learning experience for the children who report on progress and get a chance to see 'nature in action'. Even amongst the slate the eggs are nicely camouflaged. I believe the eggs will hatch in about 3 more weeks so shall post any progress.

Eureka - the snow arrived

We finally got some snow this week and although it has melted a little after a couple of days there is still enough to play in.

The view at 7.30am this morning - epic! Pink mountains and crisp white show. Chilly outside at -7degC.

The trees looked fabulous on the first morning after the snow fell. School was still on but we had to walk rather than travel by bus or car. It was a real pleasure given the beautiful scenery.

The crunchy snow gives very clear evidence of animal activity - mainly rabbits plus a visit from foxy loxy.

We dusted off our snowboards and we're now thinking of piling more snow on this slope to create a better run!

Building Control Certificate

Last Wednesday the joiner returned to fit this to the large upper floor window and on Thursday building control visited and all completion certificate and paperwork were handed over. Another key landmark in the creation of the house. The window illustrated is a fixed light 1.8m x 1.8m and affords a stunning view. We were so disappointed to be advised that this would need an internal barrier in place to comply with building regs. If we had known then perhaps a different design or different specification might have been created in the first place. Looks like a play pen.

BT have failed to meet four appointments to connect the phone. OK they pay compensation of £10 each time but we'd really rather have a phone line. So hopefully order number 5 will work...........

The wonders of nature never cease to soothe, we have an abundance of brown hares who are particularly visible in the early morning

We are in!

No news is good news..and also reflects the lack of an internet connection.

We are in! Hurrah. The recent glorious weather has provided the best of starts with the sunshine emphasising how fabulously light this house is right through to late evening. Its not properly dark for many hours in this part of the world as we approach midsummer so the changing light outside is a constant delight.

Lots of building info to convey but the detail will have to wait a few more days, as will photos. Time and attention is devoted to our business and family needs at present. Unpacking is a slow process but we have everything we need. Having lived in a caravan for 9 months it is clear that our lives don't need most of the 'stuff' we have packed away in boxes so there's no urgency in that area. We've been concentrating on making sleeping and eating areas comfortable.

Quick info for today's blog;
1. We are SO pleased with our house. Satisfaction and feel good factor is high.
2. The quality of the architecture and the build is superb.
3. 3 points to resolve for building control i) one step on the patio is of a different height to others, ii) lashing eyes are to be provided for a window cleaner to clean the large first floor bedroom window and iii) on the same window there is ongoing discussion whether an internal barrier/rail needs to be put in front of the window - its a fixed light but the building control officer is considering this point, more later on that
4. Externally we live on a rather rough looking plot - plenty of work in the years ahead.
5. The apple trees are in blossom and look stunning.
6. The poorly hen has recovered completely and the hens are completely free range now that the chances of being run over have diminished. About 5 eggs per day are being produced.
7. The temperature in the house is pretty even despite it being hot outside and the MVHR is at its lowest setting.
8. The slate floor is particularly terrific in terms of appearance.
9. There is some snagging but not much except relating to the windows which have a good number of small issues to resolve. The supplier is currently proving slow to deal with them despite our first contact being around 2 months ago now.
10. Phone line being connected on Friday allegedly.

local wildlife

Its noisy here tonight - half an hour ago there were 2? foxes shrieking outside, I haven't heard that noise before and thought someone was in trouble or an animal was being killed, it being such a piercing shriek. I managed to catch them in the beam of the big torch so they scamped off. An amazing and most unpleasant noise. Then a barn owl has been hunting and there's a whole lot more shrieking going on.
There is some woodland 100metres east of the farm which provides plenty of cover for foxes and deer. Two weeks ago a young deer was killed by a vehicle just past the farm entrance, 20 minutes later it had been reclaimed by a neighbour for lunch and dog food (sorry are you eating?).
The huge greylag geese population we have locally over winter has significantly moved on to pastures new, the curlews are here with their wonderful call and a 'swarm' of starlings were doing that fabulous sweeping dance through the sky.
A magical sight yesterday was watching two brown hares boxing in the field below the house and caravan. There is a big population of brown hare here, they are beautiful creatures. Springwatch here we come, I'll be Kate Humble rather than Bill Oddie though!