Monymusk revisted

11~13th April. Another drive up to see Mary's mum and celebrate her 97th birthday. Margaret, the Migster, Meg o' Monymusk was now back home having jumped through the necessary hoops at hospital following on from her stroke, to allow the return home. The weather was looking good and we hoped to do a visit to nearby Muir of Dinnet nature reserve on Saturday. Somehow we had never realised there was a rather splendid reserve about 24 miles towards the Cairngorms from Monymusk, until Simon posted photos from there. It seems to be a regular haunt of his, suggesting the hike North from Kinross is well worth it.

There were orange tips and peacocks in the garden at Monymusk and Andy had anticipated our visit by filling the bird feeders encouraging the locals to flock there for photos. I was surprised the wildlife and plants all seemed to be up to speed with their equivalents in the Lothians, previously believing the North East to be a week or 2 behind their Southern cousins.

97 years young!

The "new" car is going well. The previous owners doggy smell (dog'roma) is dispersing and I have dug out a load of mix CDs I made before music went spotify. The CD player is pretty decent and playing the old mixes I used to burn on the PC is like a time machine sound track from 10~20 years ago. 

Loads of woodpeckers around Monymusk
but very few actually come close enough to get photos.

green-veined white

Unfortunately the local birds take great pleasure in hiding behind branches and twigs when visiting the feeders. Bullfinches above, greenfich below.

I noticed a curious thing on the small pond in the back garden; a group of the pond skaters had collected together in a circle. It reminded me of circus acrobats making a pyramid. I thought it might have been some sort of orgy or mating ritual but can't find anything on the internet about it. Any ideas, let me know!

buzzard, miles away

Mary

and her sister Caroline
who had also come for the birthday celebrations

green finch

Saturday morning sunshine

So we got going to Muir of Dinnet. We put ourselves at the mercy of the sat-nav which regularly tells lies and spits misinformation and it behaved reasonably well taking us the 20-odd miles to M of D. I went for a pee in the toilets and was amused by this sign there. (Below.) Are people actually soaping up the floor to use as a skating rink? Seems like an unusual use of (small) toilets miles from anywhere to go all that way for a very small skating rink. Back outside and Mary had been wrestling with a comma which was avoiding her camera until she gave up, then it relented and returned for a photo.

comma

The whole time we were there there were gliders being towed up into the air by light aircraft. You had to remember to look upwards as they are noiseless (except the prop aeroplanes) to see them drift quietly overhead. 

My prime reason for going to M of D was adders. Simon regularly finds and photos them there, and there are (aren't there always?) signs saying be aware of snakes. I have been searching for Scottish snakes all my waking life and yet find they are almost entirely absent from the Lothians. I think I must possess powers similar to St Patrick who banished the snakes from Ireland. I may have inadvertently done similarly for Scotland. Unfortunately my powers haven't diminished and I appear to still be working the unwanted magic. 

Simon had very generously done a map of the place (what areas for which wildlife) and we set off in search of the snake wall. A wall (I imagined) made entirely of writhing venomous beauties. Unfortunately when we came to a junction (see map below) we turned South not North and ended up doing an anticlockwise circle of Loch Kinord and not a clockwise tour which would have delivered us to where it says Celtic Cross on map that starts the snake wall. This meant it was much later in the day getting to the wall. Which might have played a part. 

We realised the mistake in a short while but it is such a pretty place we thought we'd continue in that direction as we were having a lovely stroll round a very pleasant place with rolling hills in the distance and birds and butterflies mooching about the place. A pair of lapwings really close to the path were perhaps the highlight. They watched us as we moved close in order to get photos. But were not particularly flighty.

a peacock lit on the loch-side for a drink?

greylag goose

very lovely!
(and t-shirt / shorts weather)

several red kites flew in the distance

Eventually we came to a long wall of loose placed masonry. Dry stane dyke type. Almost a pile of rocks in places. It faced the sun and was backed up with signage advertising snakes. I have always found this to be something of a jinx. Put up a wildlife sign and whatever it is can almost be guaranteed to never be seen again. Sadly this almost came true today. I was visually glued to said wall. I scrutinised every flat surface and nook and cranny looking for our snakey friends. Mary was a little concerned about the possibility of being terrorised by a snake. That if provoked they'd be on her, sinking deadly fangs into flesh. I suggested there's about the same chance of an eagle slashing your face. Yes they have the weaponry but they don't really act in that manner and you'd need to be holding an eagle by the neck for it to even consider anything other than flying off at max speed. After a while Mary relaxed as the number of deadly venomous creatures cornering us was exactly zero. 

bad photo of a lizard under a rock
I saw another lizard and called to Mary by which time it was gone.

My mood worsened. I realised we should have got up at the crack of dawn and arrived here 9am or earlier and gone straight to the wall before the sun warmed everything up. I don't know if that strategy would have worked better but it wouldn't have worked any worse. Actually things did get worse. I was stewing, some distance behind Mary, examining every boulder in a million boulder wall when Mary displayed some lively activity maybe a hundred yards up the path. Apparently a snake had rushed across the main trail and disappeared into the long tussocky grass. Proud to say Mary got a few hasty photos and when asked how long it was said yea-big giving a wide handspan. I suspect it was about 18~24" which is something like full-sized adult snake. It did not cheer me up one bit although I was pleased we had at least something to go home with. 

Mary's serpent!

I was still determined to find a snake and M could see it was not worth arguing the toss. She went back to the car while I skulked off to do another up-and-down of the whole wall. Only this time I'd move slower and scrutinise it with laser-like zeal. Alas no matter how hard I looked I could not make anything wriggle out from between the rocks. (After quite a while) I reluctantly threw in the towel and trudged disconsolate back towards the car park. On the way through the woods I passed a couple, the bloke carrying a long-lens full-frame camera. The woman asked if I was looking for snakes and had I seen any? They had seen one on the path (exactly where I was heading) but it had disappeared into the undergrowth. By now I had the feeling that fate was clearing the path ahead of me of any snakes and I might as well fuck off home, reptile-less.

nothing for you here!

snake (or not) wall

highly recommended - really lovely place
(unless hunting snakes)

baby newt

We drove back to Monymusk. Later in the afternoon Andy was clearing out the wee pond, and getting the pump working. He found a baby newt - right enough I realised I'd only ever seen them the one (adult) size and hadn't thought about the journey there. Apparently they start as newt larvae and then efts - equivalent of a tadpole - with external gills until they absorb them and grow legs. 

dragonfly larva
diving beetle larva or similar? Let me know if you know!

We also came across a dragonfly larva. Not sure what sort but it was sufficiently fierce that Andy was reluctant to handle it. I think they can live in a pond for several years (terrorising the pondlife) before turning into adults and having a comparatively short adult life (from a week to 2 months), flying, eating and mating.

While we were enjoying messing about in the garden an emperor moth did a frantic few turns about the place. Perhaps it caught a whiff of the lure I had been using previously in the Pentlands. I had brought the lure with me but was so distracted by the (lack of) snakes I forgot to get it out at Muir of Dinnet. I got it out and 5minutes later had the emperor caught in a tupperware type beaker. I gave it a quick cool down in a freezer for about a minute then unscrewed the lid and put the container over a branch of pear blossom in the garden. The moth does not have mouthparts and does not feed but it seemed to enjoy the blossom and stayed for a couple of minutes warming up, before flying off. I took a load of photos and it turned what had been a rather frustrating day into one full of the joys of wildlife and photography. Andy was pleased to see how amazing these moths are close up, and pleased to realise there were such fab creatures flying through his garden.

choose a joyfull background

male emperor: happy to sit and warm in the sun

amazing antennae - so sensitive to the pheremones of the female
(or a lure)

I even managed close-ups of the wings showing scales

All that cheered me up almost as much as the excellent food and drink we had that evening. Then a decent enough drive back the following day. Unfortunately the latest news from Monymusk is that Mary's mum had a fall. Which has resulted in a pelvic fracture. Just awful. We will, no doubt, be back up the road shortly to continue the story. 😢