waving goodbye!

 

25~28 September.

It was back on the 31st August (I was out on one of the many trips to Saltoun) when the news came through from Mary. Her mum had died. While it is never a bolt from the blue that someone aged 98 has crossed the rainbow bridge, it was still a bit of a shock that Margaret Hunter, the Migster, Meg O' Monymusk, Maggie Billing, Mumsie, had finally succumbed.

It felt like having dodged so many bullets over the last ten years, that she would just go on for ever. Despite being considerably less inclined to remain here. In fact she regularly recommended jumping ship in your 80s as your 90s, her 90s, were pretty rubbish. The things in life she cherished; her freedom of movement, her eyesight, her agile brain, were all being taken away by degree and making life less enjoyable. But having soldiered on for so long I think she had just got into the habit, and trundled on towards three figures. (As in one hundred, not the father, the son and the holy etc.)

I very much approved of there not being an ordinary funeral. She was not a ordinary woman. And her peers had all gone on ahead. Instead, family members would assemble for a weekend of eating, drinking and remembrance. A clan gathering.

(Mary's oldest sister) Karen and husband Andy were our gracious hosts. They had looked after Margaret in her granny-flat, bolted onto their house in Monymusk, since the house was built. Which Mary and I would now stay in for the weekend. The wooden chalet we normally stay in was occupied by middle sister Caroline and her two sons, with Will unable to make the weekend as his mum suddenly took ill and later died unexpectedly, just as they were on the point of setting off from the other side of the country. Plans were hastily re-arranged and Will stayed behind.

pitcher plant - doing well, next to the pond

I always enjoy a photo-safari round Andy's garden. He keeps the place in great shape and is always planting interesting things with the wildlife and pollinators in mind. Margaret used to have 4 cats that terrorised the place. Since their demise the wildlife has returned and as well as the pine martins who breed in the Spring, there are badgers, foxes, jays, woodpeckers and lots of garden birds. As well as butterflies, dragonflies, honeybees and plenty insects.

carnivorous plant with modified leaves to form a pitfall trap

Guelder rose - Viburnum opulus

a greenhouse full of tomatoes

woah!

I took the above photo without recognising the bird species. Thought it was just a random LBJ in the garden. Obsidentify has just ID-ed it as a spotted flycatcher. Only the second time I have photographed one.

I really like this photo of Mary's car behind Sorley's.
Difficult to say why exactly, probably the lighting and foreshortening.

also going bumper to bumper

virginia creeper

Mary drove us up to Monymusk on Friday afternoon. On Saturday the weather was pretty good so we went to Castle Fraser around 4miles away, towards Kemnay. It has become a favourite place to visit as the grounds are free (car park £5) and have a swampy area and dragonfly pond as well as the walled garden which is a brilliantly maintained vibrant collection of flowers almost handpicked to attract pollinators. In the past we have seen humming-bird hawk-moths and what I reckon was a striped hawk-moth. Today no such exotics but there were lots of dragonflies and butterflies and we spent a very happy 3hrs there.

First up we headed to the dragonfly pond. I was pleased to spot several lizards sunbathing on this tree. They spotted us (while I tried to shush Mary!) and hid behind the bark. I waited a while but they weren't keen on exposing themselves.

come out, come out!

lots of fungi about

common darter

this one landed on my shoe

chuffed to see and photo this black darter
not many about this year

I could have spent a lot longer watching dragonflies. There was a hawker about but I didn't get any photos. Mary had said that stopping was irritating her (knees) and so carried on doing a walk round the boundary of the place which included an extended trail on the South side of the castle grounds. We have done this before and while perfectly pleasant does not yield anything like the insects in the walled garden, which was my main objective after the dragonfly pond. We agreed to go our separate ways and meet at the walled garden.

apples being grown on the North Wall

The walled garden was spectacular! It always is and yet I was amazed by how much they have currently in flower, at this, the arse-end of the Summer. The place was ablaze with blooms and buds and this attracts all the butterflies from miles around. Initially I was disappointed there didn't seem to be any hawk-moths but as I went round the 85 x 48m* (280 x 160ft) I found several corners where half a dozen butterflies were nectaring. Which was just perfect.

I texted Mary who arrived shortly although she thought I was being sarcastic. I had texted her the phrase "why are there so many butterflies?" Which is a mantra we frequently resort to when arriving at a place expecting to see loads and there is f all flying about. Instead of exclaiming "why do I still live in cold dark country with no interesting wildlife?" we take the more Buddhist approach by saying "why are there so many butterflies?" in the mostly forlorn hope it will reverse-jinx them into appearing. In this case today however there were lots. Maybe about 20+ per acre!

google map

*So I asked A.I. how big is the walled garden at Castle Fraser?. It said there were no dimensions available. So I went to google maps who have a measuring tool (right click and choose Measure Distance.) I then zoomed into the walled garden in satellite photo layer and measured the distance between walls: 85 x 48m = 4080. And how many sq. m in an acre? 4046. I do not think that is a coincidence. Good to know what an acre looks like. For reference a UK football pitch (110 x 70yards) is about 1.6 acres. As the internet so unpleasantly puts it, I was today years old when I finally got the measure of an acre.

Previously, ie in the middle ages, an acre was regarded as the area a man could plough with a team of 8 oxen in a day. Which can be done nowadays, depending on your tractor size and plough, between 3 and 30minutes. Ahh, the good old days!

Syrphus ribesii

Castle Fraser itself cannot fit into a 100mm zoom shot from the walled garden.

first small tort of the day

Having increased its tariff in the last few years through rarity, I was very pleased to get a photo of the first small tort of the day before it took off a second later and flew over the boundary wall and away. Within a short space of time I had seen another half dozen and so all of a sudden I am holding back, waiting until one is perched spectacularly, or in the frame with other butterflies. Whatever is blighting Small Tortoiseshells in Southern England making them rarer this year than Clouded Yellows, it has not taken hold in Aberdeenshire yet and there had to be around 10 or more in the acre of walled garden.

Instead, the most rare thing (apart from a very special blue) was a singular painted lady. (In the PL invasion of 2019 I stopped taking photos of Painted Ladies because they had become so routine, so humdrum.) It underlines how the value we place on things very much changes depending where you are and what is under your nose.

an admiral resting on the North wall

quite a few small whites about today too

loads of amazing looking flowers which the butterflies were enjoying

photobombing volucella pellucens hoverfly

not as many peacocks as RAs and small torts

some of the flowers, like this dahlia, (Preference) were just fantastic

this strawflower, Xerochrysum bracteatum was one of my
favourite images from today (despite not wearing a butterfly fascinator)

giant scabious

I love the big cheesy grin on the wanking monkey,
and it always cheers me up when I see it

In case you can't be bothered reading the sign above it says they used to run boilers with flues through the North wall which kept the greenhouses warm enough to grow figs, apricots, grapes and peaches. Not bad for the Northeast of Scotland.

sundial

In the Southwest corner there was a secluded neuk with a bench and some asters hosting a couple of admirals, a pair of small torts with occasional peacocks. I felt a really good photo was just around the corner but not sure I pulled it off.

a carder bee and small white jostle for position

This was the find of the day. A second brood Common Blue female, fairly recently emerged and floating about the place. It sat high on these apple tree leaves for a while but Mary and I saw it going across the lawns later, although we failed to get any decent images. It has arrived right at the end of the season and there won't be many males in contention. It is not a species that overwinters (as an adult). An unexpected treasure.

the sundial in the centre of the garden

sundial which was telling the right time
photo taken at 13.29 and seems to point to within 5 mins of that

peacock on asters

Mary

Eristalis pertinax

Syrphus ribesii

It looks they had a bumper crop of apples from the trees nailed to the North wall. (I was today years old when I learned the term Espalier(ed) tree).There were still loads on the trees but far more underneath on the ground. They must have been left for the insects who will enjoy those greatly once the flowers and other food sources are gone. There were at least a couple of admirals making a headstart.

love the lanterns of these cape gooseberries Physalis peruviana

some kinda brassica

peacock

Mary blending in with autumnal shades

just fantasic!
I think the flower is Amberboa moschata

small white

crimson glory vine?

imagine paying all that money to get into the castle
only to find a bagpiper on the ramparts

robin

just when it seemed like things couldn't get any better

a painted lady landed beside this tortoiseshell

three-fer!

Mary enjoying her new camera

one of today's more successful images - a peacock

butterflies at Castle Fraser
soundtrack: A Lifetime Rolls By by BPMoore, annasara

admirable appletree

I was really stoked at Castle Fraser. Even some terrible service at the overpriced cafe and having to shiver in the gloomy cafe courtyard while eating our cake, waiting, waiting for our hot drinks to arrive did not screw the pooch, which was saying something. It was far from the highlight we hoped for at those prices, but I have moved on because the walled garden is a special place and gives so much deep joy. Note to self: take a flask and pocket snack next time.

Another very fond memory of that weekend was walking Noola the dog on Saturday evening. A very effective way to force a person out the house for an hour you didn't know you needed, but really enjoyed anyway. The field beyond the last house is stubble and haystacks and makes a lovely place to watch the sun go down behind the trees. And just mess about while chatting and taking photos and filling a pocket with conkers. I could easily manage an Autumn and Winter of this.

looking North to Bennachie (529m)

 puffballs 

Donald, Caroline, Sorley

I would've, but was carrying a camera!

fullish moon, Sat 26th

Karen, being a nurse, had cleverly made a point of retrieving (from the crematorium) the 'bionic' spare parts her mum had worn for maybe a couple of decades, internally. One hip replacement, 2 knee replacements. It was absolutely fascinating to hold the metal replacement hip ball-socket and long pin that would have been hammered into her femur.

I had expected swooshy metal parts like you might get on a high end bicycle made out of sleekly finished titanium. And very lightweight. However they were all more roughly hewn than I expected, although a certain amount of the finish no doubt due to the extreme heat to which they had been recently exposed. It was fascinating to see and hold the metalwork which made zero concession to weight. They felt like cast iron and were more like an implement to rake a fire or defend yourself with against an intruder - quick, I can hear a burglar downstairs, put that replacement knee in a sock!

Mary modelling a hip replacement
excuse the poor quality of photos - taken with an iPad

Mary has inherited her mother's knee

remote knee

Caroline, Alison

I had meant to put my street lens on and record the day on Sunday when the English branch of the clan turned up. Lovely to meet cousin Alison again, and husband Paul had come this time as well. I forgot to photograph the day but it was all very jolly. (Amazing food and drink!) I took my camera out at 9.30pm when a small party took Noola for walkies again. Alison and Caroline walked ahead probably wondering what all the cursing was back where I was struggling to make my camera behave.

I had put the flash on as it was pitch black. Although I had a head torch it is surprising how operating the camera in darkness is so different from when you can see everything. And it just wasn't working properly. I rarely go out in the dark and take flash photos and I eventually worked out that if the camera was too distant from a subject, it either wouldn't take a photo or take a super-long exposure if the flash was off. If it could see (for instance) Mary just ahead, it would focus on her. However if she was 10 yards ahead and everything was too dark to get any feedback it wouldn't take a photo. Also I had been drinking most of the day and wasn't especially clearheaded. 

I'm glad we got a few (rubbish) shots to mark the occasion. Which was quite nice apart from me raging away in the dark. And I am forewarned about future night shoots (in case we visit the Botanics annual light show, although everything there is so well lit the camera sensor will not have problems working out distances.) 

the three Marys
and an accidental 20second long exposure

I could not have done that (long exposure) if I was trying to - and now I want to do lots more using a tripod and long exposure light trails. But at the time I was cursing the camera and the fact it wasn't behaving as I felt it should.

what d'you think - too much flash?

love conkers (all)

Both car journeys were done without stopping which reduces travel time to well under 4hrs. I was about to say there was work going on in both directions that slowed progress, but in fact it was just orange cones on the road and not really any actual roadworks being done. But enough to slow and single file the traffic for a few miles. Best to have some jolly music in the car to play to pass the time. Thanks Mary for the mostly excellent driving!

A much better way to remember your mum than going to a service in a chapel.