Landscapes of Summer

Summer in Speyside

Scotland-Glenlivet in Summer and Autumn
Over the last few weeks, there has been some lovely weather. We had 2 really hot (for Speyside) weeks in July including the Highland Games at Dufftown. The weather has been mainly sunny during August, but much cooler than July with some days already feeling like autumn is here! I have noticed that the days are definitely shortening. T-in the Park, is in Glenlivet Hall for the whole month of August and seems to be very busy. I popped in today and had a delightful plate of Irish soup! Just shows we are very versatile in Speyside. Thre hanging and fence baskets are all looking good making the hall look exceptionally welcoming. The heather is looking stunning this year and I walked part of the way up Ben Rinnes to try and get some good colours and views. The barley is starting to change colour in this area, although on the Moray Firth coast the barley has already been harvested!

Visit to MacDuff and Troup Head

As the sun was still shining, Jane and I head to the Moray Firth coast for a change of scenery, the following day. The seascapes as we drove along the coastal trail east were beautiful. We stopped and had an early lunch at the Cornerstone Restaurant in MacDuff. It is close to the Maritime museum and does excellent food. After lunch we drove east out of MacDuff through the harbour area marvelling at the fishing boats, but thinking that if we were enjoying seeing them it meant they were not fishing! We drove to the end of the road where the open air swimming pool used to be and found some wonderful rock formations.

Later we drove past Crovie and out to Troop Head. We parked at the RSPB Reserve car park and enjoyed the walk out to the cliffs listening to the sounds of the seabirds. It is a fairly steep climb up behind the cliff face to get to the best vantage point for viewing the birds An RSPB warden was on the cliffs with her telescope and was delighted to tell us about the different birds we could see as well as setting up the telescope for us to get close up views of some of the chicks. We saw gannets and chicks, kittiwake and chicks, guillemot and chicks and razorbills. We were lucky enough to see a passing Great Skua who was on the hunt for eggs or unguarded chicks. The highlight of the day was on our walk back to the car, we saw 3 puffins. Jane had never seen seabirds nesting on cliffs before and had for a long time wanted to see puffins so we were thrilled.

There is a lot to explore in the whole of this area including Gardestown, Crovie and Pennan, but it was Wimbledon on the TV so we decided to rush back to catch the end of it!

Summer is here

Summer has arrived in Speyside. After our late winter and short spring, it is great that summer has arrived. We had family visiting last week and I took the opportunity to visit the gardens at Ballindalloch castle. My sister-in-law, Jane is a keen gardener and an artist. She loved the gardens and was very impressed by all the hard work that goes into maintaining them. She loved the selection of plants in the border by the entrance to the castle and could see that it would be a riot of colour for the next few months. The rock garden also looked great, but my favourite time is in spring when the azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom adding lots of pinks and reds to the many shades of green. We were just a little early to see the walled garden's many variety of roses at their best, but already there was a wonderful fragrance in the air with many different scented roses just coming into bloom. Apart from all the beautiful flowers and trees which are any gardeners dream there are now some llamas to visit as well. It was lovely to see the baby llama who is exceptionally cute.

After walking around the garden and driving around the Speyside area, I started thinking about the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Photographic Competition for 2009. Full details of the contest and how to enter are on the Greater Speyside Website.

Winter in Speyside

Having returned from a holiday in New Zealand it was time to get the cottages ready for the Christmas and New Year visitors. Although we had some cold weather over the period, it was unfortunate that there was no snow. The weather has changed a great deal over the last 8 years since we have been living in the Speyside area. For the first 5 years snow was guaranteed normally between Christmas and the New Year. In fact, for 2 years we were completely snowed in. Instead this year it was frosty which is also pretty, but not much use to the youngsters who wanted to go sledging or sking! However the Glenfarclas and Aberlour distilleries were open between Christmas and New Year so at least the adults could get some New Year cheer. Early in the New Year, we had some lovely snowy days and I rushed out to take photos at the Packhorse bridge in Glenlivet. Another day when I was walking by the River Spey, I walked over the Penny Bridge in Aberlour and saw this beautiful heron fishing. During February we had some beautiful weather which led to my husband going to play his first golf of 2008 on a glorious sunny day.

Autumn in Speyside

I really must get into the habit of writing up the blog on a regular basis! There is always lots of beautiful scenery to photograph and things to see and do around Speyside. The autumn colours were wonderful like the photo on the left of the River Spey between Rothes and Craigellachie. Between February and the end of September this is a wonderful fishing spot where I often see fishermen up to their waists in the cool Spey water. I haven't seen anyone catching a fish yet, but maybe I didn't wait around for long enough. I was driving over to work at our cottages at Bluefolds in Glenlivet and could not resist stopping to photograph Ben Rinnes on the way up to the cottages. I just loved the light on the wild corn and the colour of the hills. Alice Littler park with the Aberlour Church looks great in autumn too.

Balvenie castle, Dufftown

Castles of the Highlands, Moray and Aberdeenshire

I have had a wonderful time taking photos at various castles and garden in the local area. One of my favourites is Ballindalloch Castle near Aberlour. Another favourite is Balvenie Castle at Dufftown and during the Whisky Festival last weekend there was a fascinating display of music and light just as the sun was setting.

Braemar Highland Gathering - Saturday 1 September 2007

It has been a mixed year weather-wise for the Highland Games throughout the area, but the sun shone for the final Games of the season at Braemar. The gathering was attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. It is always a very colourful event as you have the youngsters wearing their tartan for the highland dancing and then there is the massed pipe bands. There were 11 bands this year and the shield for the best band was won by Lonach and district Pipe Band. I always enjoy the Heavy Events which include tossing the caber, weight over a bar and throwing the hammer. It is great to see that these traditional Scottish Events now have competitors from around the world with Texan and a Ukranian competing. The Ukranian won the weight over the bar and in fact set the new record for this 2 years ago at over 16 feet. The journey from Speyside over the Lecht and along the River Dee to Braemar is very beautiful especially as the heather is in full bloom.

Summer is passing

It is hard to believe that we are half way through August already. The children have already returned to school in the Highlands. We have been lucky with our weather in Speyside in comparison with areas in the south of England, but both Tomintoul and Dufftown Highland Games in July were rained on. This did not deter the enthusiasts including many of our visitors at the cottages. My first look at Pipe Bands this year was after the Aberlour Games on 4 August. It is always a thrill to watch and listen to them marching along the High Street with the colourful Drum Majors leading the way. Pipe Bands have wonderful support from the communities and children are encouraged to join and learn the Pipes and Drums from a very early age. In the photo on the right you can see 2 young Drum Majors. After marching several times up and down the High Street the Pipe Band followed by the children's fancy dress parade make their way back to the Alice Littler Park for their final tunes of the day.