Autumn at Hamelldaeme

 Autumn is my favourite season and we usually get away with the motorhome as often as we can this time of year. However with the Covid-19 restrictions that has been very difficult (unless we want to go touring the City of Edinburgh in a motorhome) and I am sure that you are all feeling the pain.

So this blog is all about the joys of Autumn at Hamelldaeme (for those of you not familiar with the phrase it's a Scottish Staycation). So let's start with the static status of our New Vannie over this period, aptly illustrated in this little time-lapse video:

A lovely view of Autumn colours out our rear window.

We have had plenty of wildlife visiting our garden over the Autumn months, including the following birds:

Wood Pigeon on the grass

Starling Posing on Fence

Magpie on Fence

Jackdaw dining locally

Starling Party

Relatively common birds, but interesting none-the-less. We have had a few more unusual species in the garden, such as this small flock (of three or four) Bullfinch:

Sometimes it was interesting behaviour that caught my attention, such as this Great Tit searching every potential nook and cranny for a spider or other such titbits to eat:

We usually have a little Wood Mouse that regularly makes an appearance but I haven't seen it since late Summer when it ventured out to eat some bread put out for the birds (I know you are not supposed to feed bread to the birds):

In the summer I also made a pond in our front garden; well I dug a hole, put my son's old baby bath in it and filled it with rain water. It seemed to work and attracted some insect larvae and a couple of water beetles. In the late summer I put out my trail camera and found out we had some nocturnal visitors to the pond:

I soon realised that I had to make a gap in the perimeter fence to let the Hedgehog in to the pond, I had thought that it would come through the hedge.

In the Autumn it was taken over by the birds as a place to wash and drink:

Home-made Pond in Front Garden

Blackbird and Sparrow visiting pond

Sparrows and Starling at pond.

This little video shows how busy it could get at the pond

Can't wait to see if we get any pond residents next Spring.

Whilst looking out my front window one morning in late Autumn I was surprised to find there were no birds at the pond, I also noticed there were no birds at my neighbour's feeder either (it is usually hoaching with Sparrows), a quick glance at my neighbour's hedge revealed the reason:

A male Sparrowhawk was perched on the hedge, it looked like it had just made an unsuccessful strike and was resting up, it didn't hang about long. 

 It's wrong to say that we didn't go anywhere over the last couple of months, we did go out for a few local walks, such as this little jaunt along Home Farm Road to Dundas Castle and Back:

Moira on Home Farm Road

Autumn Berries

Autumn Caterpillar

View Towards The Bridges

Heading to Dundas Castle

View Towards The Pentland Hills

Dundas Castle

Dundas Castle doesn't look too impressive in this photo, but it does have impressive grounds with an impressive driveway:

Dundas Castle Driveway

Bent Tree on Driveway

Nice Treescape

The driveway used to be even more impressive before it was cut in half by the A90 way back in the early 1960's. The half on the other side of the A90 is known locally as The Dark Entries!

We are quite lucky to have interesting places we can go for a walk locally, although they are all noticeably busier this year. The walk down to Queensferry shoreline is quite pleasant, but we tend to go mid-week as it can be busy at weekends. Here are some photos of one such walk:

The House on The Hill

The Rail Bridge

The Road Bridges

South Queensferry Shoreline

There are usually a few birds to see on the shoreline, especially when the tide is out:

The Rail Bridge always looks impressive in photographs..........

Forth Rail Bridge and Hawes Pier

...........but it's not until you get right under it do you fully realise the scale of it:

Under The Rail Bridge

Looking Towards Fife

The scale of The Bridge is also emphasised when you seen a train going over it:

A heavy diesel train can be made to look like a toy.

After admiring The Bridge and the views across the Forth we headed back uphill, using the steps behind the Hawes Inn, known locally as Jacob's Ladder:

Looking Up Jacob's Ladder

Looking Down Jacob's Ladder

This leads to the old railway line that runs from Dalmeny to Port Edgar, which is now a cycle/walkway; which was surprisingly quiet this day (it is usually busy with dog-walkers, cyclists, joggers and strollers):

An Empty Cycle/Walkway

Half way along this lane there is a great photo opportunity with a fantastic view of The Bridge (which I couldn't resist):

Yet another Rail Bridge photo

I also noticed that the large tug (which is usually based at Hound Point Oil Terminal) was testing its water pumps, which I think are part of its fire-fighting capabilities; whatever they are for it was impressive:

We headed on back home, passing the New High School and the demolished remains (basically rubble) of what was the Old High School.

Rear Entrance to New High School

Demolishing The Old High School

Bang goes my son's old school and my evening woodwork classroom (wonder when we will get back to woodwork classes?)

It was an enjoyable and interesting walk that day, but I still miss being able to go away for a few days with the motorhome.

I will leave you with another time-lapse video of the passing of Autumn, as viewed from our front window:

That's All Folks!

Hope you all have a Merry (but careful) Christmas and a Happy (but safe) New Year

Take Care

Teddyedward

Bye Bye Vannie and Hello Speyside

 Back in September, when our movements were not quite so restrictive we decided to take the plunge and replace our motorhome. Our beloved Vannie had served us well for the last four years but we decided it was time for an upgrade.

We chose to go for an Auto-sleeper Broadway, not new but six years newer than Vannie and a higher quality motorhome (sorry Vannie). Here are a couple photos of our new van taken during a day trip to West Sands, St Andrews:

New Van at West Sands

Auto-Sleeper Broadway motorhome

It has a different layout from Vannie and features an end lounge, here is what it looks like inside:

New Van Interior

Inside the Cab

We are really pleased with it, but our little grandson Graeme was really sad to see Vannie go as he enjoyed playing with the steering wheel and pressing every button. I wanted to call the new van Otto (as it is an Auto-Sleeper) and Moira wanted to call it Sleepy (which I  thought was a bit Disneyish) but Graeme decided that it should be called "New Vannie". We didn't want to upset him so "New Vannie" it is. He was impressed that it had "so much space" as he put it and "so many buttons" he therefore accepts it as a suitable replacement.

As we still had the freedom to travel at the end of September we decided that we would take a trip to one of our favourite places ............Speyside! So we booked in for a few days at Grantown on Spey Campsite and got the van  packed with all the essentials before heading North. Our first stop was at the evocatively named Layby 74 at the start of the Drumochter Pass:

Heading into The Pass of Drumochter

Layby 74 a prime location

A great place to stop for a comfort break and some lunch. Suitably refreshed we headed through the Drumochter Pass, turned right after Aviemore and made our way to Grantown on Spey. One we arrived we got the van set up and then settled down to lovely cup of tea (never understand why some campers always get the wine out when they arrive at a site) the sun was barely past the yardarm!

Enjoying a cup of tea in Speyside

Despite trying to maintain social distancing we got a visitor coming to our van .............it was a little Shield Bug who dropped in to say Hello!

Shield Bug

Despite its colour I think this is a Green Shield Bug, which turns bronze in the Autumn, a bit like leaves. If it changes colour for camouflage it was a bit pointless landing on a white motorhome! We had a relaxing afternoon at the site, made some dinner for ourselves and than took a leisurely walk around the campsite area before returning for a relaxing evening in the motorhome.

Next morning we had our breakfast then headed out for a walk into the town, we had no intention visiting any of the cafes, pubs or shops in the town as we were a bit nervous of how people were behaving with regards to Covid-19 restrictions. On the whole most people were following the guidelines with only one or two being a bit blasé about the whole mask-wearing, safe distancing sort of thing. We did go into the Co-op to pick up a few essential supplies for our lunch and dinner, but fortunately everybody wore a mask and stuck to the rules.

We had a leisurely walk back to the campsite and made ourselves a spot of lunch. After lunch we headed back out for a walk along the nearby Dava Way (a disused railway line which is now a walking/cycle path). The railway line originally ran from Aviemore to Forres a total of about 36 miles, the path starts at Grantown-on-Spey and still goes all the way to Forres. that makes it about 24 miles of pathway, but we only intended to walk the first couple of miles.

First up is a cutting through some hard granite, which must have been a major task back in the 1860's when it was blasted through:

Cutting Through Granite on Dava Way

Moss on the Granite Walls

After the cutting the path opens up a bit, with birch woodland on either side:

Leaving the Cutting on the Dava Way

Birding along the Dava Way

In truth there were very few birds to see, and those that were there annoyingly kept hiding in the trees, so we carried on along the path. A bit further along the path opened up so we could see more of the surrounding countryside.

The path opens up a bit

More open countryside

Moira enjoying the walk

As the path opened up a bit then we saw more wildflowers and a few more insects:

Harebell (aka Scottish Bluebell)

Mouse-ear Hawkweed

Scabious and a Bee

This also looked like a bee, but was in fact a Bee Fly:

In this more open part of the walk we finally started to see some birds, such as this Goldfinch:

I also thought that I had spotted a Spotted Flycatcher, which my friend Jim subsequently (and correctly) identified as a Meadow Pipit due to the length of its rear claw (you live and learn!). See if you agree:

Sorry if these videos were a bit shaky, but I have been a bit out of practice with the old camcorder lately. 

Here is another bird that was playing hard to get, but finally revealed itself as a Chaffinch:

We walked on a little bit further until we reached Sunnyside Cottage:

Nice House, Nice Location

At this point we decided to turn around and mosey on back towards the campsite.

As we neared the campsite we had some cracking views over towards the Cairngorms:

Campsite and Cairngorms from Dava Way

Cairngorms and new houses being built

We passed under the old railway bridge and headed back to the campsite.

Old Bridge at the start of the  Dava Way

It was starting to rain a bit now so we were glad to get back to the motorhome for a cup of tea. We chilled at the campsite for the rest of the afternoon before enjoying our dinner. After dinner we had a little walk around the campsite area, I took my bat detector with me but we only managed to record one bat as it zipped passed us on the road outside the campsite. It turned out to be a bit of a wild night with regards to weather, very wet and a bit windy, a good test for the new van (which it passed with flying colours).

Next morning after breakfast I had a few chores to do around the motorhome and we stayed at the campsite whilst the weather dried up a bit. Later on we headed out for a walk around Anagach Wood on the other side of Grantown, down by the Spey.

Moira entering Anagach Wood

Entrance to Anagach Wood, Grantown-on-Spey

This is usually a good place to see Red Squirrel, Siskin, Crested Tit, Crossbill, etc. but despite our best efforts we saw very little, other than a couple of Chaffinch?

Whaur's the Burds?

Which Path to choose?

We did find a little area which had a few 'fenced-off'' ponds in it, which I thought might have some wildlife around it, but no!

Pond in Anagach Wood

Whilst it was a pleasant walk through the woods we decided it would be best to head down to the River Spey to see if we could find any wildlife down there.

The path down to the Spey lead us to a little spot where could stop and have a break:

Path down to River Spey

Moira taking a break

It was also a great spot to check out if there was anything to see on the river, which was quite fast flowing due to the rain the previous night. This is obviously one of the prime angling spots on the river as the grass is well trimmed and there is a concrete 'casting platform' to allow you to cast far over toward the other bank (on which there appears to be a fishermen's hut).

Prime Angling Spot

Casting Platform on Spey near Grantown

It was on this casting platform I got a brief glimpse of my favourite water bird, the fantastic Mr Dipper. I managed to capture it on video before it disappeared in to the swirling water (slowed down slightly so you can see it):

After our break we moved further along the river, following a track called The Speyside Way; which runs all the way from Aviemore to harbour at Buckie, following the route of the river. It runs for 66 miles but we were only planning to walk about 1 mile to the Old Bridge of Spey.

A section of the Speyside Way

Heading towards Old Bridge of Spey

Old Bridge of Spey

The bridge was built in 1754 by soldiers of the 33rd Regiment and lies on the old military road that once linked Braemar to Fort George. It was actually built 10 years before the first houses were erected in the planned town of Grantown-on-Spey. It served as the main road bridge over the Spey in this area until it was replaced by a concrete bridge further upstream in the 1930's. It is now closed to traffic, but you can still walk on it and enjoy the views from it:

The road over the Old Bridge of Spey

Moira on the Old Bridge of Spey

View looking West (upstream)

View looking East (downstream)

Nice House by The Spey

Here is a little video taken at the bridge:

After spending some time at the bridge we headed back along the old military road, which cuts through Anagach Wood to reach Grantown.

Old Sign on Military Road..... any guesses?

Route of Military Road through Anagach Wood

There were many interesting stones and pebbles along the route, which appeared to have been painted by the local children:

 

Dinosaur Land Apparently?

Many Painted Stones line the path

Nothing wrong with a splash of colour in the woods; I also enjoyed gazing up as well as down revelling in the lovely tree-scape:

The Trees of Anagach Wood

Up in the Canopy

Lovely Tree-scape

We carried on through the woods to Grantown:

Onwards to Grantown

Back at the campsite we had a relaxing afternoon, made something for our evening meal then went for a stroll along the country road that leads to Dreggie Farm. We took the bat detector with us again and actually met a couple of members of the local bat group who were also looking for bats in the area. Hope they had better luck than us because we found zero bats, it was still a bit early in the evening for them. 

The next morning we packed up the motorhome and headed for home. We stopped at a layby on the way for our last look at the Speyside countryside before joining the A9 heading South:

Towards the Moody Cairngorms

The River Spey

New Vannie in Speyside

So that's it for our first full trip out in our new motorhome. It did everything we wanted it to do and more (more space, more comfortable, more powerful, better economy, etc.) so needless to say we were quite pleased with it. Looking forward to many more trips when we finally get the green light to do so!

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones in this troubled time.

Cheers

Teddyedward