Back once more??

Haven't posted here since 2012 as I have been busy with my business since 2012 and had to shelve some of my 'social' things such as my blogging!

I have taken a lot of photographs over the years and will pop a few up on here!

I go to a local country park to walk the doggies and love to take photos of the trees at different times during the year.  These following ones are definitely WINTER season - taking in February [ a couple of weeks ago!]

Hope you enjoyed these few photos!

Spring poetry from my past......

I've just been re-instating my office layout, after waiting for over nine months for a whole in the ceiling [over my desk] to be repaired by the neighbour whose workmen put a foot through the ceiling from the shared loftspace!!! - and I was sitting underneath the area at the time!!!

ANYWAY - as I am moving all my 'stuff' back in I am going through it -'to clear the clutter' and make sure that everything goes in the most logical place [ ie not have everything higglety-pigglety around the space!!].

I found a couple of sheets of poems I had composed away back..............................

Misty tranquility and solitude

ripples over rocks ground down over time

green lagoons of deep seawater

Waterfall of sparkling white

Hidden treasures of delight!

8th March 2007

and

Raucous Rooks in the treetops high

calling and cawing and cursing the sky,

and the cold wind which gusts and rocks

the new nests they are trying to construct.

Patches of white

amongst the grass and tree trunks

dotted around the woodland floor

in groups and clumps.

The lowly little Snowdrop,

harbinger of Spring,

with the Rook chorus

the new growth begins.

8th March 2007

Reading these poems took me straight back to the place where I composed them as well as remembering the place, the weather was calm, with sunny spells, but very cold - much like today has been!!

Spring at Muirshiel

Spring finally arrrived up at Muirshiel in April, with the appearance of the wildflowers on the bankings at the roadside, all the way from the old quarry, up to Muirshiel Country Park.
Mainly Primroses but lots of Dog Violets as well.
On one of the warmer days at the end of April, we went out around the 'Bilberry' areas looking for any early Green Hairstreak Butterflies which might have been around - we did find a couple of early specimens but mostly it was White-tailed, Red-tailed and Buff-tailed Bumblebees which we recorded flying around.
Patch was with us on the survey as when he moved through the vegetation slightly ahead of us - the butterflies would be disturbed and fly up - giving us the chance to see them, However at this point he was 'cheating' by walking along the top of a long fallen tree trunk!!!

The other thing which shows it is Spring - is the arrival of
the Seasonal Rangers!!
They are from left to right - Richie, Colin[hiding], Andy, Stephen, Jesse and Elidh spotted here checking out Muirshiel Country Park and having a little look for any Hen Harrier which might be passing!

SNOW COVERED MOORLANDS AT MUIRSHIEL Feb 2009

This was the view that greated me as I made my way to work back in February - Snow, snow, and more snow!
It was magical once I got to work, as no-one else had been out and about since the snowfall apart from the birds and animals. - no footprints anywhere.
In the afternoon, I headed up part of the road towards the old mines up on the moors. Snow covered everything and it all looked clean and crisp and brilliantly white in the strong [but cool] sunshine.
At the riverside it was hard to believe the size of the icicles. These ones are about 6foot [2metres] in length!
This was the good side of snow - the bad side was it was COLD!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought I'd add in another little poem I wrote at the end of Octeber, one morning whilst at Muirshiel Country Park I felt inspired to sit down for ten minutes and pen this little poem.

Muirshiel Morning

Muirshiel morning has dawned clear and bright

Hard to believe there was a storm last night

Shades of Golds & Coppers & Browns

reach from the treetops right down to the ground

Scarlet leaves of a Guelder Rose, shine bright and clear

the sounds of a Robin, and a Wren skulking near

Long fallen trunks lie thick on the ground

Pointing the way that the winds knocked them down

The green of the rushes are now tipped with brown

and the Rosebay Willowherbs have fallen to the ground

The sun is shining throught the raspeberry leaves

and the clumps of ferns are swaying gently in the breeze.

The rhododendrons which used to cover this ground

are slowly but surely all being cut down.

They took over the area and swamped it indeed

a single monoculture where nothing could breed

but it is being replaced with the trees of this land

and slowly but surely, these woods will be grand.

this was written oriiginally on the 27th October 2008, on the Lower Habitat Trail at Muirshiel Country Park.

This is the road to Muirshiel at the mile marker [1 mile to go!]. It was a beautiful morning a week ago, and I couldn't resist stopping to take some photos on my way to work - nice route eh! There is a small parking area at the trees on the right [an old 'guarry' area - but quite small. Enough for a couple of cars to stop.
The hills are just past their best as the heather bloom was a few weeks ago and only lasted for a couple of weeks - just when it was raining all the time!!
The brown stuff in the foreground is braken which can rapidly take over hillsides and smother the 'natural' vegetation.
The River Calder flows down the valley towards Lochwinoch and the riversides are quite steep as it cuts its way down. This means that cheep are excluded and therefore the trees get the chance to grow past eating height!
At the end of the road is the Muirshiel Visitor Centre. There are some huge Chestnut trees all around the centre and carpark, a remnant from when the area was a private Victorian shooting estate - and the trees were part of the garden policies.


A little view of the start of the Windy Hill path which goes up through an area which was covered in Rhododenrons in 1995. There is the sound of a Robin singing right at the start [unfortunately you will also hear my camera 'zoming in'! sorry]. The Rhododendrons were cut down in 1995-1996 (with which I helped) and a few trees planted in tree tubes. However the large Birch trees in the frame also set seeds of their own and the entire area has now started to regenerate by itself with masses of young birches getting to between 5 and 10 feet now, with plenty more young ones comming on below.

Patch on Cathkin Braes at the 'split' tree

Patch on Cathkn Braes at the 'split' tree, originally uploaded by Kindurco.

What is that old story about the eye of the needle!! This tree looks a little like the eye of a needle, but you probably could fit a camel through it - with a squeeze! It was damaged after some very high winds at the start of March. The top of the tree is 'hung-up' on another Larch, and it is actually rather precarious, especially with the path underneath it! There has been quite a bit of regeneration of Beech trees around this area, which was cleared of Rhododenrons quite a few years ago. There have also been some windfalls opening up the canaopy to allow some seedlings to develop. Hopefully in a few years, they will have grown quite large!