Owls and other birds of prey

Linda and I took another of our Saturday jaunts to the Clyde valley yesterday.  It wasn’t the best of days with some showers around, but that wasn’t going to stop us from visiting a garden centre or two.  Clyde valley is a very fertile area and plants have been nurtured along the valley for many a long year, as old brick chimneys dotted along the roadside behind wild hedgerows will testify.

Garden centres, displaying and selling shrubs, herbaceous plants, alpines, roses, trees, etc. have replaced the old nursery gardens and are big business.  They sell anything and everything for your garden, from hoses and tools to sun loungers, patio sets and chimeneas for a cool evening.  Cafes, tearooms, even restaurants also attract the customers in, and we were no exception.  We had a nice lunch at the Silverbirch before spending a good while wandering round the displays of flowering plants, evergreens and climbers,  not to mention the collections of garden ornaments, colourful flower pots of varying sizes, sacks of earth and peat, fencing, paving slabs, baskets and pots of plant arrangements, garden fountains and water features!  We packed a trolley full of  plants, a couple of tubs of chicken manure pellets, and for me, a beautiful earthenware pot glazed with blue  slip and decorated with an embossed border around the rim. 

Once all was paid for and packed into the car, we drove a bit further along the valley, following the river, to the next garden centre, a much bigger affair, where a cup of tea was what we craved!  At the rear of this garden centre a birds of prey display area has been set up, so quite refreshed we set off in search of it.  Well, are these birds magnificent or what!  Barn owls have always been a favourite of mine  amongst the  birds of prey

 

 

 

 

 

  but the tawny owl won my heart yesterday. 

There was a Little Owl, only about 6 inches tall, 

 

 

 

an eagle owl about 4 times that height, and various hawks , falcons and buzzards.  I didn’t note all their names and which belonged to who, but if you are at all interested I’m sure you’ll be able to find them on the internet. I’ll just show you the pictures for your admiration!  We could hardly drag ourselves away.

 

 

 

 

Those eyes look soulful but I bet that beak can do some damage to its unsuspecting prey.

 

 

 

 

 

And then we were introduced to the fledglings, in fact, not even that, as they’re not quite at the flying stage yet.  At about 3 and 4 weeks old these two baby owls are being hand reared and despite being of different owl types they consider themselves to be siblings.  Here, the slightly bigger Sooty Barn Owl is preening his littler pal, and below right, Sooty is having a yawn, not squawking, or preparing to take a bite out of my finger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite Sooty’s hissing, which actually meant I’m hungry, rather than Leave me alone, both birds were quite happy to be stroked, and we were quite happy to oblige. Here’s Linda saying hello, and making friends! They are fed every hour on “anything with fur or feathers”, according to their handler, but we didn’t really fancy waiting around for teatime.

Instead, after a last look at the birds, we made our way back through the covered  garden display area, admiring the varieties of plants, and almost keeping our hands in our pockets!  Suffice to say, we did have  to stop off at the checkout – and no, we weren’t really laden, just three small-ish plants between us this time!

So, time to go home.  We had met in Biggar, where I would go one way and Linda another, so there we transferred plants from my car to hers, and each of us set off with intentions of spending the evening in our respective gardens!

Talk again soon!

Spring!

It was very much greener over on the west than it is here, but at last the lime trees on Tweed Green are popping their buds open to reveal clusters of little tiny leaves.  The pear blossom in my garden is looking wonderful – oh for a good crop of fruit in the autumn –

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and the apple blossom is well in bud but not quite open yet.

I’ve had a couple of spending sprees for garden plants  in the last week.  On Saturday I bought a potentilla, a ceanothus and a lavatera from Scott Brothers’ small garden centre, across the road, then a rhododendron, a quince and some lily of the valley from Milestones, down near St Boswells!  The cafe there is great for lunch or even a cup of tea and a cake, so of course you have to go and inspect the wide range of plants afterwards!  I was quite pleased with myself that I stopped at just those plants as it’s always so tempting.

Now the next thing is to get them planted.  I had to dig out my last rhododendrons as they weren’t doing well at all.  One had just died, but the other still had green leaves on it so badly eaten it wasn’t getting anywhere at all.  It had looked such a beautiful healthy plant when I bought it, but I suspect the pot had the dreaded vine weevils lurking in it!   I may keep Percy Wiseman – that’s the new rhoddie – in a large pot this time. 

It’s deciding where to put them!   I may have to clear out another bit of flowerbed.  We’ll see. In the meantime I have to remember to keep them well watered and with my new windows in, I can’t get the hose through to the kitchen tap any more.  It seems it might be a good idea  to get an outside tap fixed up soon.

I took quite a few pictures out in the garden of the various plants that are already growing:  the drumstick primulas, the pieris with its red tips – I’m amazed it’s survived being overshadowed by the buddleia for a year or two but it’s looking good -  and the bluebells that are starting to bloom now….

 

I took a photo of one bluebell and started playing with it on the computer, adding different  filters to it to create different effects.  Here are a few of my favourites,  After a while it was hard to tell which was the original photo!!!

 

You’ll  probably have to enlarge them to see the changes!

 These are just a few of the umpteen that I tried out!

 

 

 

 

I love these primulas – pompom flowers we used to call them when we (my sister and I) were kids.

 

 

And I even noticed that the gooseberry plant  already has tiny gooseberries forming! Now… I need a plum tree next!  Where can I put one of those, I ask myself!

Oh well, no doubt I’ll think of an answer to that one in due course!

Talk again soon.

Going home

So after the lacemakers left Kintyre on Saturday, Anna and I had a chance for a bit of exploration.  On Sunday we had a day out with Linda, Ken and Linda’s dad, also Ken, to Crinan at the western end of the canal of the same name.  It’s only about 9 miles long, but enables boats to take a short cut and not have to make the long journey round the Mull of Kintyre.  The Crinan canal basin is a vibrant and colourful little area, where there are always boats to be found, about to enter the canal locks, or having made the journey from Lochgilphead at the other end.

 We had a short walk around the basin crossing the canal via  the lock gates, and admired yachts and views, before continuing on our way, eventually reaching “home” again. 

Ken took Anna to Glasgow airport on Monday for her flight to Stansted, before continuing to Newcastle to visit his brother, so after waving them goodbye, Linda and I took a walk to the shop to pick up some bits and pieces to supplement tea later, taking our time on the way back to stop and look over the bridge at the old packhorse bridge that was the old route down the peninsula. After lunch we continued with our lacemaking  for a while, then in the evening I drove up to Tarbert to visit the Gaelic choir that my cousin Neil sings in and Hilary conducts.  Oh that was a great evening, singing with them as they practised songs for the Mod in Wick in October, and going to the pub afterwards.  I think I may contact the Lothian Gaelic choir in Edinburgh with a view to joining them.  I used to sing with one of the Edinburgh Gaelic choirs in the 70s, and only stopped when I moved to Yorkshire.

Next day Jeanne came up from Glenbarr to join me in learning to make felt!   She had a pattern for a runner that she wanted to make which involved making sheets of felt of various colours to cut into shapes.  After seeing some of the items Linda had made I decided to make a pouch for my little camera!  I chose a combination of fuchsia pink and a bright purple, and under instruction from Linda  managed to produce a rather creditable pocket of felt that shrank  to fit the camera.   If I’d continued to shrink the felt it would have worked equally well as a mobile phone pouch instead!  

 

I also made a flower!

 

 

 

I rather enjoyed the day and plan to try another item soon!  I think a hat could be the next thing!!!  Or maybe slippers?

So now I’m actually sitting at the slipway in Tarbert waiting for the ferry to Portavadie.  I can see it in the distance.  It will be here in about five minutes.  There are three cars waiting today.

Here we are then!  On the boat!  Today after I said goodbye to Linda – Ken is still away in Newcastle  – I drove down the peninsula - 

taking a photo break at Westport beach.  It was so beautiful, I could have photographed for ever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

-  to Campbeltown and round and up the east side……and we’re off to Portavadie…….  stopping at Skipness for a sandwich and piece of cake bought at the post office shop, and eaten on the

 

beach, looking over the water to the hills of Arran.  It’s  a beautiful day.

I’m bringing back a meercat, from Glenbarr Abbey- not for me but for Catherine who wanted another one - so he got his photo taken a few times on the way round!   We’ll be heading back to Hunters Quay, Dunoon for the next ferry to Gourock and then back via Glasgow to Peebles. We’re fairly tanking along through the water!  Almost at Portavadie already!!   I think I’ll stop at Tighnabruaich for a cuppie. …

Well, the tearoom at Tighnabruaich was closed, as many British tearooms are at teatime, but don’t get me started on that one….so I kept on driving, back to the ferry at Hunter’s Quay.   Soon we were back on the Glasgow side of the Clyde, and heading towards the city by the motorway – a bit quieter in the evening.  I couldn’t believe how quickly I got to the exit that would take me home, and as the daylight was going I reached Peebles again  - the end of a great holiday.  When’s the next one?! 

Talk again soon,

More Lace!

I had hoped to do a  blog every day from Kintyre, but I’m afraid it didn’t quite work out that way!  Today is Saturday and our course ended yesterday!  So!  What I thought was that  first I’d show you the lace  we achieved  and then show you some pictures from our afternoons out.

  I should however tell you that Linda had got some meercat toys to sell in her craft store, so they took quite a prominent part in the week’s proceedings as most of the group bought one or two for grandchildren – or so they said!  These meercat toys have really taken off since the TV docu-soap about real meercats in Meercat Manor, and more recently the car insurance advert.  We made up stories about them, and related them to Aleksander Orlov, the advert meercat.  In short we had a lot of fun with them!   Here the big one is teaching all the little ones to make lace!  Simples!

So, as to our lace, I finished a pendant, and a butterfly pattern which Anna had designed.  I haven’t got a photograph of the completed piece, so  here are my two works of art, butterfly in the making, with pendant,completed.

 

  Catherine made a chicken napkin holder and Pat a different chicken…..

 

 

 

 

The other Pat started off making a star  which she will continue at home, now she knows what to do.  It will take a bit of time to finish but being quite repetitive she felt she would rather spend her time learning something new.

Here are the first two points done.

 

 

This is Rachel’s funky butterfly which she was very proud of.  It’s very cute and would make a great motif for a jacket or a sweater.

Mary made the “slice of apple” below.  Two or three of these in different colours and stitches make an interesting sculpture.

 

 

Linda didn’t quite finish her Nemo fish

 

 

 

 

but had a seahorse to show off as well.   These are just a few of the things that we had to exhibit in our final exhibition yesterday afternoon.  Then we had the group photo taken by Ken wielding many cameras. This was taken with mine.  It was a beautiful afternoon and we were all squinting in the sun. From left to right – Catherine, Rosemary, Rachel, Pat, Anna, Linda, the other Pat, yours truly and Mary.

All week we  worked hard in the mornings then took a break in the afternoons,

and one afternoon Linda took a few of us to see her friend – Lady Macalister – at Glenbarr Abbey. 

She was married to the 5th laird of Glenbarr, who died a couple of years ago, so now runs the tours, shop and cafe herself.

There’s not a great deal of the house to see – it is a house rather than an ecclesiastical building – but Jeanne, an American, can tell tales of the house, its family and its past, as she guides visitors through the few rooms on display.  The  hall is festooned with tartan on the walls and the stairs  and the American influence is very obvious around the place with displays of Americana,  flags, quilting,  a collection of American dolls  and a teddy bear room which is quite extraordinary!  Hundreds of bears!!!

   Another day Rachel, Pat and I took the ferry over to Gigha,

 

 

 

 

meaning God’s Isle , where  we visited an excellent little art gallery/ gift shop -  run by Henry who, amazingly, used to live in the same Borders cottage that some of my ancestors used to live in,  in the 1850s – and then toured the gardens ofAchamore House where the rhododendrons and azaleas gave the rather dull day a good splash of  colour. Another day we drove down to Campbelltown, the main town, fairly near the end of the peninsula.  It’s not the prettiest town, but has some interesting buildings.  Here’s the local bus coming up the main street on its way to Macrihanish…..

                                                                                 

…and this is a side street with a bit more character to it than the main street.  We had a cup of tea in one of the hotels that day before driving home for proper tea - our evening meal.

One evening I visited Neil and Hilary in Tarbert, Neil being the brother of  Moira who lived in Scourie, and therefore another cousin of mine.  We had a great evening, looking through old family photos, and enjoying a good blether, not to mention a wee “half” or two.  That’s a glass or two of whisky, by the way. 

This is a photo of our great great great grandfather, who was born in the 18th century.

The sunsets we have seen have been beautiful – not every night, but most have been pretty colourful, or just pretty!  ~I loved the sun’s rays descending through the clouds in this picture  and of course the gate to the beach made a great foreground.  I used it several times for photos.  This was taken looking across the road from Linda’s and Ken’s house.  The land you can see in the distance is Islay, another of the Inner Hebrides (Hebri-dees, the islands of the west of Scotland near to the coast).

This in one of the pretty sunsets, but this is a much more beautiful one.  It’s that gate again!

 

Last night I was walking along the beach towards A’Chleit

 

 

in the distance, looking for seabirds’ nests on the upper beach as the sun began to go down.  Again it was beautiful.

 

 

 

 

We saw little of the beautiful after-colours really, as there was either too little  or too much cloud for the sunlight to reflect off, but the last of the sun itself was magnificent enough.  I should leave you here for tonight.

Talk again soon.