The cold weather returned at the end of the first week of January and the temperatures plunged again to the -14 deg C level with a couple of daytime temperatures down a
t -10 deg C. The first victim of this second spell of frost was the car battery though getting home from work on 6th January might have also played a part. I had taken the car to the end of the Forest Lodge track and walked in to work from there. I could see light snow falling but being inside I wasn’t really aware of how deep the snow was getting. A couple of work colleagues bailed out at 1pm, but I still didn’t think it was too bad. A quick phone call to Janet at home in Nethybridge alerted me to the fact that there was more than 6” of snow and it was starting to fall a lot harder. Time for me to bail out too! In the deep snow the track takes about 35-40 minutes to walk to get back to the road and conditions were a little worse than I had realised. In the morning I had dug an area clear of snow (half an hour) just to park the car off the road and when I got back I had to do the same thing all over again – just to get back 
on the road! Lights on and I was off, praying that I wouldn’t meet anything coming the other way. The edges of the road had snow about two foot deep and frozen and the single track of the driveable road was only in that condition because one of the local farmers had snow-ploughed it a few days earlier. Still no council wagon, no plough, no salt or grit! The snow was about 8” deep and looming up in front of me was the butt end of a fairly large branch which had fallen since the morning journey. The wing mirror didn’t quite get past the branch, I just thought if I stopped to move it I wouldn’t get going again! As I pulled in to the Firwood drive, two landrovers went up the road, perfect timing cos I’m not sure what would have happened if I had met them on the road. So a mixture of powder snow getting under the bonnet and a battery that was as old as the V-reg car meant the car wouldn’t start the next day. Twenty minutes of heat from a couple of wee fan blowers and the car fired up with the last dregs of battery power so it was off down the road for £45-worth of new battery!
Quite a scary experience walking the forest track on the r
eturn to work in the New Year. All around branches were snapping from trees and some branches that had been pulled out of their sockets, finally came crashing to the ground - one did whilst digging my car parking spot. Thankfully it was a few yards away but man and car received a good covering of snow. One tree next to Forest Lodge has lost half of its crown with the tonne of snow on the top branch causing it to snap, the additional weight of falling snow caused the next branch to snap and so on until all the branches on one half of the tree had been snapped off. The damage to trees throughout the area has to be seen to be believed. The 
combination of a couple of feet of snow and several days of below freezing temperatures seems to be the cause of so much damage despite so many branches and trees falling during the heavy fall of snow a few months earlier in February 2009 (see diary). There are some gains with all the fallen limbs creating an invertebrate heaven. At one stage Forest Lodge resembled a frozen waterfall, an old building with little insulation and heat escaping everywhere, was causing the snow on the roof to slowly melt but the frost meant that the gutters were full of ice and the constant low quantities of overflowing water had nowhere to go but down the outside of the wooden clad building. In places the ice penetrated the walls but of course once in side it started to melt! This phenomenon was also reported from quite few more old and modern houses in the area. Eventually the build up of ice won and half the gutters on the building came off. Despite a few more inches of snow this last week things are getting back to normal but a lot of frozen snow still remains along the verges of most roads. In Abernethy no road vehicles have been able to drive further south into the forest than Forest Lodge – even now!
In the forest I have heard a few goldcrests in several places so mortality for Britain’s smallest bird might not have been too bad. I have not though, heard a wren for weeks now. There are reports of red grouse moving down from the moors and in areas where Abernethy staff have been, a few dead roe deer have been found so goodness knows what carnage will have occurred on some of the surrounding estates where deer populations have remained high, land is overgrazed and there is little woodland shelter or, where woodland does exist deer fences keep them out. The additional dustings of snow allow mammal records to be made without having to see to them. A few days ago, walking into work the first tracks I encountered were roe deer followed for a short distance by badger. More roe and a few red deer tracks were followed by a set of tiny prints scuttling across the snow from a wood mouse or vole. The unmistakable tracks of a red squirrel
appeared in a few places. Close to the sawmill, a fox track appeared followed a little further along the track by a second one? Possibly a male and female running together or two individual foxes at different times? One set of tracks were certainly slightly bigger than the other so possibly a courting couple. The one set of tracks I would have loved to have seen was capercaillie, but on this occasion nothing was seen. The number of calling crossbills around the woods is increasing and a couple of staff are struggling through the snow to carry out a detailed survey of birds breeding and, by getting birds to respond to short burst of taped crossbill song, an identification between Scottish and parrot crossbill can be made. Until the Scots pine cones start to open to release their seeds (warmer weather needed here) common crossbills are probably absent from the forest.
Mid-January Janet headed south to Lancashire for her mum’s 90th birthday bash. I should have gone as well but with the frost and unpredictable amounts of snow possible, we felt we couldn’t both be away from the house at this time of year. As Janet left I thought it was time to try and get out and about again and set off to walk along the road from Nethybridge towards Boat of Garten (B970) turning left off the road to head back towards the house on the tracks through the forest, part of which is the Speyside Way which emerges from the forest close to Firwood. Madness or what! The whole circuit usually takes about an hour but on this occasion, and with nobody having walked the track ahead of me, it took two hours to get from road to road. At least it would be easier for the next person to walk the track – following in my footsteps.
The following day continued the “madness” theme and on the way back from Inverness I stopped off at Moy to visit a Forestry Commission woodland. Their local ecologist has supplied
me with a list of stands of Norway spruce as possible green shield-moss sites and, despite the deep snow on the track, I reckoned the wooded areas might be not too bad. Well, I was sort of right, but the tracks were hard going and once there I saw the spruce areas were too young and just didn’t look quite right. However, the track proved interesting and a sycamore was found with a good population of the lichen “lungwort” Lobaria pulmonaria, and a little further along the track I came across an ancient aspen tree, looking a bit forlorn on the edge of a clear fell area, but, growing from below one of the lower branches was the now famous aspen bracket fungus Phellinus tremulae (left). Both fungus and lichen were new to that particular 10 kilometre square so once again looking for one thing turned up something else. Check http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/kingussie2001/aspen_fungi.html for a bit more information on the fungus as well as other aspen related topics.
t -10 deg C. The first victim of this second spell of frost was the car battery though getting home from work on 6th January might have also played a part. I had taken the car to the end of the Forest Lodge track and walked in to work from there. I could see light snow falling but being inside I wasn’t really aware of how deep the snow was getting. A couple of work colleagues bailed out at 1pm, but I still didn’t think it was too bad. A quick phone call to Janet at home in Nethybridge alerted me to the fact that there was more than 6” of snow and it was starting to fall a lot harder. Time for me to bail out too! In the deep snow the track takes about 35-40 minutes to walk to get back to the road and conditions were a little worse than I had realised. In the morning I had dug an area clear of snow (half an hour) just to park the car off the road and when I got back I had to do the same thing all over again – just to get back 
on the road! Lights on and I was off, praying that I wouldn’t meet anything coming the other way. The edges of the road had snow about two foot deep and frozen and the single track of the driveable road was only in that condition because one of the local farmers had snow-ploughed it a few days earlier. Still no council wagon, no plough, no salt or grit! The snow was about 8” deep and looming up in front of me was the butt end of a fairly large branch which had fallen since the morning journey. The wing mirror didn’t quite get past the branch, I just thought if I stopped to move it I wouldn’t get going again! As I pulled in to the Firwood drive, two landrovers went up the road, perfect timing cos I’m not sure what would have happened if I had met them on the road. So a mixture of powder snow getting under the bonnet and a battery that was as old as the V-reg car meant the car wouldn’t start the next day. Twenty minutes of heat from a couple of wee fan blowers and the car fired up with the last dregs of battery power so it was off down the road for £45-worth of new battery!Quite a scary experience walking the forest track on the r
eturn to work in the New Year. All around branches were snapping from trees and some branches that had been pulled out of their sockets, finally came crashing to the ground - one did whilst digging my car parking spot. Thankfully it was a few yards away but man and car received a good covering of snow. One tree next to Forest Lodge has lost half of its crown with the tonne of snow on the top branch causing it to snap, the additional weight of falling snow caused the next branch to snap and so on until all the branches on one half of the tree had been snapped off. The damage to trees throughout the area has to be seen to be believed. The 
combination of a couple of feet of snow and several days of below freezing temperatures seems to be the cause of so much damage despite so many branches and trees falling during the heavy fall of snow a few months earlier in February 2009 (see diary). There are some gains with all the fallen limbs creating an invertebrate heaven. At one stage Forest Lodge resembled a frozen waterfall, an old building with little insulation and heat escaping everywhere, was causing the snow on the roof to slowly melt but the frost meant that the gutters were full of ice and the constant low quantities of overflowing water had nowhere to go but down the outside of the wooden clad building. In places the ice penetrated the walls but of course once in side it started to melt! This phenomenon was also reported from quite few more old and modern houses in the area. Eventually the build up of ice won and half the gutters on the building came off. Despite a few more inches of snow this last week things are getting back to normal but a lot of frozen snow still remains along the verges of most roads. In Abernethy no road vehicles have been able to drive further south into the forest than Forest Lodge – even now!In the forest I have heard a few goldcrests in several places so mortality for Britain’s smallest bird might not have been too bad. I have not though, heard a wren for weeks now. There are reports of red grouse moving down from the moors and in areas where Abernethy staff have been, a few dead roe deer have been found so goodness knows what carnage will have occurred on some of the surrounding estates where deer populations have remained high, land is overgrazed and there is little woodland shelter or, where woodland does exist deer fences keep them out. The additional dustings of snow allow mammal records to be made without having to see to them. A few days ago, walking into work the first tracks I encountered were roe deer followed for a short distance by badger. More roe and a few red deer tracks were followed by a set of tiny prints scuttling across the snow from a wood mouse or vole. The unmistakable tracks of a red squirrel
appeared in a few places. Close to the sawmill, a fox track appeared followed a little further along the track by a second one? Possibly a male and female running together or two individual foxes at different times? One set of tracks were certainly slightly bigger than the other so possibly a courting couple. The one set of tracks I would have loved to have seen was capercaillie, but on this occasion nothing was seen. The number of calling crossbills around the woods is increasing and a couple of staff are struggling through the snow to carry out a detailed survey of birds breeding and, by getting birds to respond to short burst of taped crossbill song, an identification between Scottish and parrot crossbill can be made. Until the Scots pine cones start to open to release their seeds (warmer weather needed here) common crossbills are probably absent from the forest.Mid-January Janet headed south to Lancashire for her mum’s 90th birthday bash. I should have gone as well but with the frost and unpredictable amounts of snow possible, we felt we couldn’t both be away from the house at this time of year. As Janet left I thought it was time to try and get out and about again and set off to walk along the road from Nethybridge towards Boat of Garten (B970) turning left off the road to head back towards the house on the tracks through the forest, part of which is the Speyside Way which emerges from the forest close to Firwood. Madness or what! The whole circuit usually takes about an hour but on this occasion, and with nobody having walked the track ahead of me, it took two hours to get from road to road. At least it would be easier for the next person to walk the track – following in my footsteps.
The following day continued the “madness” theme and on the way back from Inverness I stopped off at Moy to visit a Forestry Commission woodland. Their local ecologist has supplied
me with a list of stands of Norway spruce as possible green shield-moss sites and, despite the deep snow on the track, I reckoned the wooded areas might be not too bad. Well, I was sort of right, but the tracks were hard going and once there I saw the spruce areas were too young and just didn’t look quite right. However, the track proved interesting and a sycamore was found with a good population of the lichen “lungwort” Lobaria pulmonaria, and a little further along the track I came across an ancient aspen tree, looking a bit forlorn on the edge of a clear fell area, but, growing from below one of the lower branches was the now famous aspen bracket fungus Phellinus tremulae (left). Both fungus and lichen were new to that particular 10 kilometre square so once again looking for one thing turned up something else. Check http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/kingussie2001/aspen_fungi.html for a bit more information on the fungus as well as other aspen related topics. The next day dawned very frost but sunny so I thought a visit to one of the more outlying areas of Abernethy might produce a few nice photos. Considering it w
as impossible to drive to this area I thought I could get there by the back door – via Glenmore! The aim was Ryvoan Bothy, parking the car at the Forestry Commission visitor Centre in Glenmore and walking in via Glenmore Lodge and the Green Loch. Crampons would have been a good idea, the track being covered in hard-packed snow/ice via all the visitors’ feet acting like piste machines at the top of Cairngorm. It was slow going, but worth the effort for the stunning views along the way. Lots of folk were slip/sliding their way as far as the Green Loch with just a few pressing on towards the bothy, one group of ladies had actually managed to do the Glenmore – Meall a’ Bhuachaille circuit but said the going had been very hard. Despite the cold there were 3 tents pitched at Ryvoan Bothy and a 
few folk had stayed at the bothy that night. Hmm, a trip to the top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille could be challenging and it WOULD be interesting to see how the mountain lichens got on in deep snow conditions. But not today, it was already early afternoon and it would be sensible to allow for a few more hours of daylight if I did decide to go.
The next day dawned a little warmer, +2 degrees C, and with s
un forecast for later in the day a walk up the mountain was on. The track from Glenmore was even more slippery today than the day before; the rise in temperature had added a slight layer of water on top of the ice making it deadly and much safer to walk in the deeper snow along the sides of the track. Eventually Ryvoan Bothy was reached and it was decision time, onwards and upwards, or back to Glenmore? The sun was shining, there was little wind, and it would be nice to see the lichens. Very few people had been up the hill despite the fact that this was the 18th January and the snow mostly fell around New Year time, but the first bit of the track was visible so off I went. After a few hundred feet of climbing there was no sign of a
track but there was a set of footprints which were heading generally in the right direction – upwards! At about 700 metres there were deep drifts of snow and areas which were snow free. In places the snow surface was solid and easy to walk on but in other areas I was going through the crust and sinking about knee deep. It was starting to be obvious why the mountain lichens grew where they did, they mostly liked the snow free areas but I knew some where buried in the deeper snow. 750 metres and the first patches of Alectoria ochroleuca (alpine sulphur tresses) (left) were found and as the monstrous cairn on the summit came in to view more was found in amongst the commoner species and in places a second localised species Cetraria nivalis (right) started to be seen, all where the snow had been blown away and the rocks and gravel remained exposed. I have been up this hill several times before to look for these two lichens and, amazingly, and despite this bei
ng mid-January, this was the warmest I had been whilst taking photos – no wind – and what a difference. A seat by the cairn for lunch and with a bit of mist starting to form, it was time to see what the descent to Glenmore would be like. The first bit was brilliant, frozen snow down which you could, in places, slide, provided you didn’t slide into the dog poos, which, unbelievably were in several places on top of the pristine snow (absolutely disgusting), and not the first encountered on the walk. The nearer I got towards the beallach between Meall a’ Bhuachaille and Creagan Gorm where you turn left for Glenmore, the softer the snow became and it was one minute on the frozen crust and the next knee deep in snow. So few people had been up this route that there was no obvious route to follow so it was straight down following a couple of sets of tracks of folks ascending. It was very hard going and I ended up waist deep in the snow on a couple of occasions and I was extremely glad that I hadn’t ascended the hill in this direction. A slip/slidy bit once back on the forest track and 6 hours after setting off I was back at the car. Brilliant, apart from the dog mess! Shoot the buggers I say.
In between times an article about the green shield-moss was written for Field Bryology, the 100th edition no less, and it may be one of the articles the show on their website at http://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/ . Click on the “here” button to see if it is listed, also click on “Home” to see what else they have available including access to an electronic field guide. As the weather eased we eventually managed to get to Giles Pearson’s shop at Logie ( http://www.giles-pearson-antiques.co.uk/ ) to
pick up a table he had been restoring which we had bought as a joint 40th wedding anniversary present. 22nd January and we were only the second visitors Giles had had in 2010, incredibly the deposits of snow had been much worst between Grantown on Spey and Logie (nr Forres) than they had been with us. On the way back I couldn’t pass a buzzard, perched on Castle Roy on the outskirts of Nethybridge, as the sun was setting, without stopping to take a photo. Buzzards, like other birds of prey, have been having a hard time of it with everything covered in deep snow. During the worst of the weather I twice had buzzards feeding on rare road casualty, and refusing to fly off as I drove past.
26th January a fuel tanker tried and failed to reach Forest Lodge with a load of kerosene. Staff had had to resort to bringing in fuel in 45 gallon drums for most of January just to keep the heating going in Forest Lodge. Thankfully, the tanker made it 3 days later. 29th January we changed our broadband provider and we’re still tweaking bits and pieces to get everything running smoothly. The same day the lack of Highland Council gritting wagons almost had severe consequences, the school bus slid off the road between Boat of Garten and Nethybridge, untreated snow on top of ice being the cause. Three cars were off on the same stretch of road.
30th January we did our RSPB Garden Bird Count and over the day managed to count 21 species: starling 4, blackbird 7, chaffinch 40, great tit 5, woodpigeon 2, collared dove 4, blue tit 6, coat tit 20+, sparrowhawk 1, rook 5, robin 2, dunnock 2, yellowhammer 4, crested tit minimum 1, pheasant 2, jackdaw 10, great spot woodpecker 1, mistle thrush 1 in tree above garden, goldfinch 1, siskin 3 and house sparrow 2. No greenfinches!
The next major milestone is preparing a talk for the RSPB Scottish Staff Conference in Pitlochry, but more about that in the next diary.
That’s it
Best wishes
Stewart & Janet
as impossible to drive to this area I thought I could get there by the back door – via Glenmore! The aim was Ryvoan Bothy, parking the car at the Forestry Commission visitor Centre in Glenmore and walking in via Glenmore Lodge and the Green Loch. Crampons would have been a good idea, the track being covered in hard-packed snow/ice via all the visitors’ feet acting like piste machines at the top of Cairngorm. It was slow going, but worth the effort for the stunning views along the way. Lots of folk were slip/sliding their way as far as the Green Loch with just a few pressing on towards the bothy, one group of ladies had actually managed to do the Glenmore – Meall a’ Bhuachaille circuit but said the going had been very hard. Despite the cold there were 3 tents pitched at Ryvoan Bothy and a 
few folk had stayed at the bothy that night. Hmm, a trip to the top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille could be challenging and it WOULD be interesting to see how the mountain lichens got on in deep snow conditions. But not today, it was already early afternoon and it would be sensible to allow for a few more hours of daylight if I did decide to go.The next day dawned a little warmer, +2 degrees C, and with s
un forecast for later in the day a walk up the mountain was on. The track from Glenmore was even more slippery today than the day before; the rise in temperature had added a slight layer of water on top of the ice making it deadly and much safer to walk in the deeper snow along the sides of the track. Eventually Ryvoan Bothy was reached and it was decision time, onwards and upwards, or back to Glenmore? The sun was shining, there was little wind, and it would be nice to see the lichens. Very few people had been up the hill despite the fact that this was the 18th January and the snow mostly fell around New Year time, but the first bit of the track was visible so off I went. After a few hundred feet of climbing there was no sign of a
track but there was a set of footprints which were heading generally in the right direction – upwards! At about 700 metres there were deep drifts of snow and areas which were snow free. In places the snow surface was solid and easy to walk on but in other areas I was going through the crust and sinking about knee deep. It was starting to be obvious why the mountain lichens grew where they did, they mostly liked the snow free areas but I knew some where buried in the deeper snow. 750 metres and the first patches of Alectoria ochroleuca (alpine sulphur tresses) (left) were found and as the monstrous cairn on the summit came in to view more was found in amongst the commoner species and in places a second localised species Cetraria nivalis (right) started to be seen, all where the snow had been blown away and the rocks and gravel remained exposed. I have been up this hill several times before to look for these two lichens and, amazingly, and despite this bei
ng mid-January, this was the warmest I had been whilst taking photos – no wind – and what a difference. A seat by the cairn for lunch and with a bit of mist starting to form, it was time to see what the descent to Glenmore would be like. The first bit was brilliant, frozen snow down which you could, in places, slide, provided you didn’t slide into the dog poos, which, unbelievably were in several places on top of the pristine snow (absolutely disgusting), and not the first encountered on the walk. The nearer I got towards the beallach between Meall a’ Bhuachaille and Creagan Gorm where you turn left for Glenmore, the softer the snow became and it was one minute on the frozen crust and the next knee deep in snow. So few people had been up this route that there was no obvious route to follow so it was straight down following a couple of sets of tracks of folks ascending. It was very hard going and I ended up waist deep in the snow on a couple of occasions and I was extremely glad that I hadn’t ascended the hill in this direction. A slip/slidy bit once back on the forest track and 6 hours after setting off I was back at the car. Brilliant, apart from the dog mess! Shoot the buggers I say.In between times an article about the green shield-moss was written for Field Bryology, the 100th edition no less, and it may be one of the articles the show on their website at http://www.britishbryologicalsociety.org.uk/ . Click on the “here” button to see if it is listed, also click on “Home” to see what else they have available including access to an electronic field guide. As the weather eased we eventually managed to get to Giles Pearson’s shop at Logie ( http://www.giles-pearson-antiques.co.uk/ ) to
pick up a table he had been restoring which we had bought as a joint 40th wedding anniversary present. 22nd January and we were only the second visitors Giles had had in 2010, incredibly the deposits of snow had been much worst between Grantown on Spey and Logie (nr Forres) than they had been with us. On the way back I couldn’t pass a buzzard, perched on Castle Roy on the outskirts of Nethybridge, as the sun was setting, without stopping to take a photo. Buzzards, like other birds of prey, have been having a hard time of it with everything covered in deep snow. During the worst of the weather I twice had buzzards feeding on rare road casualty, and refusing to fly off as I drove past.26th January a fuel tanker tried and failed to reach Forest Lodge with a load of kerosene. Staff had had to resort to bringing in fuel in 45 gallon drums for most of January just to keep the heating going in Forest Lodge. Thankfully, the tanker made it 3 days later. 29th January we changed our broadband provider and we’re still tweaking bits and pieces to get everything running smoothly. The same day the lack of Highland Council gritting wagons almost had severe consequences, the school bus slid off the road between Boat of Garten and Nethybridge, untreated snow on top of ice being the cause. Three cars were off on the same stretch of road.
30th January we did our RSPB Garden Bird Count and over the day managed to count 21 species: starling 4, blackbird 7, chaffinch 40, great tit 5, woodpigeon 2, collared dove 4, blue tit 6, coat tit 20+, sparrowhawk 1, rook 5, robin 2, dunnock 2, yellowhammer 4, crested tit minimum 1, pheasant 2, jackdaw 10, great spot woodpecker 1, mistle thrush 1 in tree above garden, goldfinch 1, siskin 3 and house sparrow 2. No greenfinches!
The next major milestone is preparing a talk for the RSPB Scottish Staff Conference in Pitlochry, but more about that in the next diary.
That’s it
Best wishes
Stewart & Janet
Green shield-moss search late afternoon Inshriach Forest
All photos © Stewart Taylor
