What a week!

We welcomed Linda & Graham to the chalet after a long journey from the south bringing with them the first flurries of snow. With snow & frost forecast we lifted the last of our parsnips from 2006 as they had started to grow again! We were pleasantly surprised by the many shapes and sizes but at the end of the day, they all tasted the same - delicious. A check later on on the Saturday to see how the breeding toads were getting on (not well - too cold) produced a few fresh capercaillie droppings and a brilliant rainbow over the forest. As I wandered along the track my diary of last week came back to haunt me as the first thing I found was a large clump of frog spawn - high and dry, but with some well developed tadpoles within the spawn. So, the first rescue of the year was undertaken, and the spawn was lifted and carried to the nearest permanent water. Despite the many clumps of frog spawn, not a frog was to be seen, mating and egg laying over for another year. Another sign of spring was also seen in the nearby peat-bog, the "moss crop" as it is known locally had started to grow. The "moss crop" is really the flowering spikes of cotton grass, fairly uninteresting at this stage of its life cycle but much more spectacular in June when the flowers have turned to seed and the bogs turn white as the "cotton" heads of the plants start to blow off across the bogs. The flower heads at this time of year are a valuable source of food for many animals (deer, sheep, cattle etc) but also for black grouse and capercaillie, which also feed heavily on the flower heads. At this time of year the male birds are preparing for the rigours of the lekking season (males fighting to be the dominant bird on the traditional lekking stances where females come to be mated) and also a food supply for the females as they prepare for egg laying.

Sunday - the snow arrived, one inch at day break and regular showers during the day. Brrr! On Monday even more arrived and a couple of inches were lying during the day and despite a bit of thawing regular showers during the day kept the level at two to four inches. More food went out for the birds in the garden and the birds responded by appearing in good numbers, we estimated that there were over a hundred birds at the Firwood feeders during Tuesday. A rough count produced the following:
5 rooks, 4+ jackdaws, 2 goldfinches, 2 dunnocks, 4 blackbirds, 50-60 chaffinches, 10 blue tits, 5 great tits, 10 coat tits, 3 long-tailed tits, 4 yellowhammers, 5+ greenfinches, 2 starling (nesting in one of our boxes), 3 robins, 5 collard doves, 2 woodpigeons 4 siskins, 2 great-spotted woodpeckers, 1 fast flying sparrowhawk, 1 crested tit and a male pheasant. Well, that's what was counted but we know from a bird ringing session in the garden a few years ago, that the 10 blue tits turned into 20+ when individuals could be identified by their rings. So who knows just how many birds we were helping during the cold snap. I think the picture right has 30 birds in it of four species.


So, with fresh snow on the hills, the landscape has looked great, particularly when taking the picture (left) at Loch Mallachie, there was a fly past by a brown hen harrier, mobbed by a couple of carrion crows. The roosting gulls have also re-appeared, with a few greater black-backs and herring gulls along with six black-headed gulls on Loch Garten. A male hen harrier was also seen hunting over the farm fields on the edge of Nethybridge. A walk between Aviemore and Boat of Garten following the River Spey on Thursday produced 45 different bird species. Nothing really out of the norm, but a couple of stonechats looking for food on the banks of the Spey was unusual and probably a result of the snow cover locally. Thursdays outing was Stewarts first test in using his new "bus pass" (free bus travel throughout Scotland for the over 60's!) the whole outing completed without resorting to the car. By today, most of the low-ground snow had melted and we had a real "spring-like" day but a frost at night.


A check back to the toad pool today, with the sun beating down, produced lots of activity and lots of strings of toad spawn to be seen. I also managed to see a toad "ball" (right) where a female toad had attracted the attention of at least 10 males, just look at the number of legs visible in the picture!


And to finish, a few pictures of the snow - snow clearing and a before and after of the crocuses in the flower box, amazing how resilient these "fragile" flowers are.


Happy reading & best wishes

Stewart & Janet

All photos © Stewart Taylor

Spring has arrived but heavy snow is forecast!

We reached the dizzy heights of 10 degrees C this week and the flowers in the Firwood garden continue to appear to add to the colour of the place. Everywhere is white with the clumps of snowdrops, the few bulbs of a decade ago have multiplied and spread so that we even have the odd flower appearing out of the lawn! Although just past their best, they still make a bonny sight. Big and dwarf crocuses in many colours are also adding to the spectacle, scattered through the rockery, in the tubs and under the apple tree, opening and closing as the sun comes and goes. We just need the first bumblebee of the season to visit and do a bit of pollinating.

The planned visit to see the unusual mosses on the ancient aspens all went well and I spent an hour or so taking a few close-up photographs. It was a bit windy, and you would be amazed just how much a tree moves about when you are trying to photograph a tiny moss from a distance of a few inches. The mosses in question were almost un-heard of in Britain until a few years ago until a work colleague, involved in a moss survey, couldn't quite believe what he thought he was seeing. A single plant from a "cushion" was taken and checked under a microscope and, to be doubly sure, was then sent to the Scottish expert who confirmed that a species new to Britain had indeed been found. So started a major survey of the local aspen stands and to everyones amazement, quite a few "cushions" of the moss were found. The moss doesn't have an English name so goes by the wonderful title of Orthotrichum gymnostomum (pictured), a bristle moss. Its close relative O. obtusifolium, also very rare in Britain, was also found at several of the sites adding yet another layer of importance to the ancient stands of aspen trees locally. More about aspens later in the summer when we go in search of a very unusual hoverfly!

The birds in the garden have continued in good numbers - perhaps a few more over the last few days (see first blog). Allen in the chalet has had a bit of luck this week with his camera and is waiting until he gets his film back to see if the crested tit picture has come up to scratch. A male blackbird this morning has to be the luckiest of the birds in the garden today. Whilst filling up one of the feeders I was aware of an almighty racket from close to the rowan tree and immediately thought "cat". However, the cat turned out to be a female sparrowhawk and my movement to see what was happening disturbed her and she released the blackbird which disappeared with great haste into nearby bushes! One cat, familiar to many of our past visitors -Wossie, said cheerio to Firwood last Friday, departing with daughter Laura who was taking up a new job in Aberdeenshire. One last picture of the mischievous cat.

A few other bird records, our first woodcock roding near to the house, hen harrier hunting the moor by Loch Mallachie, pied wagtail (a summer visitor here) on the house roof and lots of song from curlews, lapwings, all the woodland birds, and a few more crossbills appearing in the forest. Red kite locally was quite unusual.

The signs went up this week along the road by Loch Garten to warn car drivers to beware of "toads on the road". Both toads and frogs have been on the march this week as they head to their breeding sites. As they gather in the lochs and pools the water becomes alive with mating pairs and immediately lots of spawn appears - clumps of spawn for frogs and strings of spawn for toads. At this time it is not unusual for females to be killed by frenzied males attempting to mate with a single female - all at the same time. Today, a pine marten scat on a tree stump and a mass of frog spawn scattered all around, showed that predators can have easy pickings if they can find a particularly good breeding pool. Frogs also seem to have the habit of laying spawn in pools that may dry out in the coming weeks, leaving spawn or tadpoles high and dry. I tend to have a wee plastic cup in my rucksac to help out at this time, moving the spawn or tadpoles to the nearest permanent pool. These pictures show what you might see if you happen upon a good breeding pool.

And the snow - watch this space!

Happy reading.

Stewart & Janet

All photos © Stewart Taylor

Recent events at Firwood Cottage

Well, the event of the week had to be last weekends eclipse of the full moon. Locally, we were blessed with clear skies and perfect viewing all through the eclipse and, with a bit of fiddling with my 100mm telephoto lens, the image left was obtained. Not many street-lights locally, so easy to watch - the stars weren't too bad either.

However, the evening started well a little earlier with a visit to Loch Garten to see what birds were roosting. A bit quiet really, with a few mallard, a couple of goosander, a dozen goldeneye and a few wigeon. About 50 carrion crows were also roosting in the woods. The main event though, was the moon rising, slowly, from the back of Tore Hill. Thankfully, I had taken the camera with me. The early views were really as good as the picture left shows, the blues haven't been added/enhanced by photoshop, they are just as found. The scene just got better and as darkness was descending all around, the view was stunning. Having lost track of time I had to phone home at 7pm to say that I hadn't drowned!

We have had Neil & Rachel in the chalet this week, and Neil, being a keen wildlife photographer, has had his "log" set up in the garden, close to the feeders, to try and get good pictures of the birds and red squirrels coming in to feed. Birds have been similar in the garden as listed in the last report and it has been nice to see up to 5 yellowhammers joining the 30 or so chaffinches feeding on the ground food. The squirrels have been quite good with at least 3 around most days. Both male & female great-spotted woodpeckers have been seen with the male drumming all morning from a nearby tree. He's been so noisy that folk walking past have been stopping to try and see him. Blue tits and great tits have also been cleaning out the nearby nestboxes.

Caught the local bus on Tuesday to Grantown on Spey and walked back to Nethybridge along the River Spey and the Speyside Way path. It was a bit breezy and a bit chilly, so the birds were a bit harder to find but 33 species were recorded for BTO Birdtrack, the highlight being about 250 lapwings, 60 curlew, 14 whooper swans, 400 greylags and recent arrivals, 100 pink-footed geese. Eight fieldfares were a nice surprise and the first pied and grey wagtails for the year were seen. No osprey at Loch Garten yet but there are a few reports of birds in the country. The first osprey staff are also on site, preparing for the new season. The woods have started to fill up with singing birds including big-billed crossbills (Scottish or Parrot) which will be nest building as I write. In the garden the snowdrops continue to be the highlight.

The chill of Tuesday produced a bit of snow today and a bit of ice on the road - a bit tricky when pedalling to work. There is still a bit of snow high up, with skiing still okay on Cairngorm. This was the view across Loch Garten to Meall a' Bhuachaille, with its white mantle.

I also enjoyed my 60th birthday present at the weekend, a day out with wildlife photographer, Neil McIntyre. Lots of photos around Loch an Eilean, Rothiemurchus Forest and Glen Feshie. If it stunning scenery for photography, they you really can't go wrong in those areas and learning classic techniques of blurry waterfalls into the bargain. A great day out and thoroughly recommended. Chalet change over day tomorrow and a quick visit out with a work colleague in the afternoon to look at a few (unusual) lichens growing on ancient aspens, so something a bit more unusual to report on next time. Isn't it great as the days get lighter, the birds start to sing and we head off into the best four months of the year.

Enjoy the read.

Stewart & Janet

All photos © Stewart Taylor

Current events at Firwood

Firstly, thank you to Douglas for getting the diary page up and running, it's just up to us now to keep you all informed as to what is happening at Firwood and in the surrounding area.

We have had a bit of a mixture of weather this week, mild, then some serious rain, then a bit of snow followed by a heavy frost 1 March! A bit like spring had arrived today with lots of sun, all the birds starting to sing and the crocuses in the garden starting to open to add to the the ever expanding patches of snowdrops.

Main birds within the garden over the last few days have been:

• blue tit


• great tit


• coal tit


• long-tailed tit


• crested tit briefly on the feeder


• siskin


• blackbird


• collared dove


• woodpigeon


• jackdaw


• rook


• treecreeper taking peanut scraps from below feeder outside Chalet window

sorry, I'll remember to turn the image next time!

• pheasant


• greenfinch


• chaffinch


• great spotted woodpecker


• goldfinch


• house sparrow


• sparrowhawk


• dunnock


• wren


• starling


• robin


• yellowhammer

Locally, lots of lapwing and oystercatchers have arrived, and 60 black-headed gulls roosting on Loch Garten is the highest count for a few years - we used to have 3000-4000! Lots of song & mistle thrushes singing and the odd woodcock can be seen by the roads. Lets hope for clear skies tomorrow night - when there will be a full eclipse of the moon. Thankfully, it's getting lighter, I managed to cycle to and from work on Thursday - without lights, the first time this year. A couple of tawny owls are hooting outside telling me its time to pack up for today.

Happy reading.

Stewart & Janet

All photos © Stewart Taylor