Scotland - Clootie Well

The Clootie Well near Munlochy on the Black Isle to the North of Inverness, and near the banks of the Moray Firth

 

We discovered this strange place by chance, turning into a Forestry Commission Car Park for a bite to eat. Historically, such wells are places of Celtic pilgrimage, with a piece of cloth dipped in the well and then hung up in the surrounding trees.  This will bring good health to the person from whom the cloth originated.

 

The trees surrounding this ancient shrine were festooned with hundreds, if not a few thousand pieces of cloth, rags and whole garments (mainly socks) all in different condition as they aged.  Many of the clothes it would appear to have previously belonged to children, whom I suspect were possibly suffering from life threatening disease.

Whilst it was strangely interesting, it was certainly very eerie, and I wasn't sorry to leave.



Rutland Water - Great Crested Grebe Nest Change Over

A Great Crested Grebe nest at Rutland Water in July 2012.
 

Stretching, bored...

 

...Mate arriving...



 

...Your turn...



 

...Just checking the eggs.





Scotland - Stac Polly Walk Pt 2

More photos of my walk on Stac Polly in June

 

View of  the Summer Isles from the top of Stac Polly

 

Surprised by an orchid close to the path just a few hundred feet below the summit

Cul Mor in clouds and a shaft of sun

A Millipede on the path

 

Low clouds over Ben Mor Coigach

 







Rutland Water - Barn Owl and Osprey

More photos from the trip to Rutland Water in July

More than an hour before sunset, a Barn Owl suddenly appeared from behind a hedge 50m away.  Flying along the hedge line...

...it turned and disappeared into the next field.  Despite the brief view, this beautiful owl was the highlight of my day.



Earlier we watched the Manton Bay Ospreys (at a distance) with the 2 juveniles mainly sitting in the nest making occasional short early training flights.  I understand that the Osprey in the photo was an adult cleaning talons and leg feathers by dipping them into the water as it returned to the nest area.



Rutland Water - Great Crested Grebe and a Pike (again)

Rutland Water a month ago in July.

Having watched a Great Crested Grebe swallowing a small Jack Pike at Tring Reservoirs a few days earlier (see earlier blog), I was surprised to see another and larger Pike being expertly swallowed by this grebe at Rutland Water.  It's progress is shown in the series of photos below.

Lifting the fish up...

...to the vertical (giving a nice reflection)...

...so it will slide down...

...until it is nearly all gone, destroying buoyancy.

Scotland - Stac Polly Walk Pt 1

Photographs taken on a mainly grey June day walking up Stack Polly (Stac Pollaidh in Gaelic).

A view of Stack Polly from the West.

A lichen covered rock with different colours on the path up

A view near the top of Suilven and Quinag in the distance



A slightly hairy caterpillar - I don't think that this is of the Emperor Moth, a number of which we saw flying quickly across the moor from the path.





Now for something completely different

A lunchtime at the begining of August visuting the outdoor exhibition of Tom Stoddart's wonderful photographs at South Bank.

This man in a mask appeared from behind the photo display and stood there long enough for me to take this shot, before he disappeared.

Slightly disturbing!

Wilstone Reservoir - Great Crested Grebe and Pike

An evening's walk at Wilstone Reservoir Tring in July.

A still evening with a Great Crested Grebe swimming quite close to the bank....

....Moving away it dived and came up with what looked like a beak full of weeds....

....At first I could not work out what the bird had hold of, but after a minute or so of juggling, a young pike emerged as the weeds fell away.  The grebe soon swallowed this fish.

Later, the grebe surfaced just below me on the bank, allowing me to take a relatively close shot as it swam off.



Scotland - Sutherland Landscapes & Famous Racehorses

Two mountains sit next to each other in the far Northwest of Scotland, Fionaven and Arkle.  Coincidentally, famous racehorses have been named after these two mountains.  Arkle was the Champion Steeplechaser and Fionaven the winner of the 1967 Grand National (after all of the rest of the field fell or were held up in the resulting melee at one fence at Aintree).



The desolate slopes of Fionaven from above Strath Dionard.

A different side of Fionaven from Oldshoremore

Arkle (I hope and not Ben Stack which is also close by) in the distance framed by a rainbow from Loch Inchard

The last rays of sun catch the slopes above Loch Glencoul

Intelligent Scottish Gull

Whilst watching the dolphins at Chanonry Point on the Moray Firth, I noticed a Herring Gull that was picking something off the beach and dropping it back onto the stony foreshore, before flying down and collecting the object again, only to repeat the cycle many times.

In this photo, you can see the falling object just above the line of the beach in the distance.



It appears to be a mollusc of some kind, perhaps a cockle.  Clearly the gull though the reward was worth the work.

The beach where this intelligent gull did the work.





Ivinghoe Beacon Hills - Frog Orchid & Blues

An evening Stroll around the Ivinghoe Beacon last week.

The highlight was a rare Frog Orchid, not quite open, caught here in the golden evening sun.  The only one found, but better than last year when not a single plant was discovered.

A Blue in the long grass, also catching the last of the sun.

I am not sure whether this is a Common or Chalkhill Blue?

Low sun over the fields below the Beacon

Male Linnet still in breeding colour with bright red breast