Waking up the Garden

 This afternoon, I mowed the side lawn for the first time this year.  The grass is looking fresh and green on this warm Spring day.

The pond has been topped up and had a little weed removed.  There are newts active in the water at present, so I do not want to disturb it any further.

Under the hedge we have a few Wood Anemones in flower and thy are twinkling in the sunlight.

I was careful not to mow the lawn where we are going to keep it as a flower meadow.  We have a Snakes Head Fratillery near the seat at the moment . I have also spotted the leaves of Dog Daisies and Foxgloves, it will be interesting to see what does come up this year.

Quiet times

Having had a head cold for a couple of days, I am now having some quiet time. Laryngitis!  Not the best illness for aged souls who have hearing issues!

We went out for a blow of fresh air over the meadows of Fenton Fields.  It was a bit windy and quite warm in the sunshine.  My spirits are suitably lifted.

Otters

Ah! a break in the weather gives us an opportunity to visit Peak Wildlife Park to see the new compound for the Otters.  They have been moved from an old indoor compound to an outside area with trees and two ponds.

These are Asian Short-Clawed Otters and they tend to live in small family groups.  Like all otters they are excellent swimmers.

They are seldom alone for any length of time and are watching out for each other.  The new compound is quite large and it allows them to behave more naturally in the environment.

They are quite fast on land and move in coherent groups with ease....

....displaying social grooming and contact behaviour with other individuals in the group.

However, these are captive bread individuals and they know when feeding time is close.  They whistle profusely to hurry up the keepers to deliver their dinner!

I could not miss a chance to snap a Brown Lemur investigating a tree.

And equally, an Arctic Fox investigating a keepers barrow during improvements to their own compound.  What a joyful visit.






 

Wildlife

 After a recent trip, I was looking back at some of my photos and was pleased with a few of them.

A few Crows resting in the sunlight.

Sika Deer hind, out browsing by the waterside.

Red Squirrel foraging in the sunshine.

Meercat on guard duty.

Wood sculpture of a Stag Beetle, cleaned up for the Summer season.

Looking forward to my next photographic adventure.

Ice and Snow and Soup

 Yesterday we were covered in a light dusting of snow with cool temperatures and later,some rain.  Today it has snowed lightly again overnight and the roads are left in an icy state.  A good day to be at home.

We are feeding our neighbours dog and cat as she is in hospital at the moment and the roads are not good for driving today.  Fortunately, we have a good supply of fresh food, though we have to choose our meals carefully our the Oven is not working. An electrical fitter is booked for a visit tomorrow.

Todays lunch is broccoli and white Stilton soup. 20 minutes to make and we have defrosted home made bread rolls.

The soup is basically diced potato, chopped tender stem broccoli boiled in water with a little salt and pepper, blended to a liquid and poured over a lump of white Stilton cheese.

I am looking forward to having the oven working again so that I can batch bake the next weeks bread.

The Great Glen Fault

The Great Glen Fault is a geological feature that runs roughly from Inverness to Oban, dividing the Highlands into two parts.  Today I decided to do some sight seeing, so as both ends have airports, I chose to fly an aircraft on my simulator along this natural depression.

Using the Default Cessna 172 SF from the X-Plane 12 hangar and starting on ramp 3 at Inverness Airport, I do the walk around to remover any covers, chocks and locks, set up the trims and then start the engine. A call to control to obtain permission to taxi and we are off.

Permission to take off, Fly out and enter the circuit .  Once over the Moray Firth, just checking the airspace over Inverness Airport and activating the flight plan.

Looking ahead, I can just make out Loch Ness on the horizon.  This is a typical Scottish day with a hazy view to the distance.  The Great Glen Fault has some big depressions that are full of water.  From this end we shall be flying along Loch Ness, Loch Oich, Loch Lochy, Loch Linnhe and into the Firth of Lorn.

This is the view at the North East end of Loch Ness.  The line of th Fault is clearly seen as a straight depression in the range of mountains. The Monadhliath Mountains are on the left and the Highlands are to the right.

At the South West end of Loch Ness I can see Loch Oich in the V shapes notch on the horizon.  There is a slight kink in the depression here and some firm ground between the Lochs.

Now we are above the waters of Loch Lochy and in the haze is the view of Loch Linnhe.  At this point it is just a matter of maintaining a safe height and keeping the flight path central along the Loch.  There are a couple of No-Fly zones to avoid, but on the whole it is a straight run.

Passing the end of Loch Linnhe into the Firth of Lorn, I can see Lismore Island and I need to keep left of that to fly over the Lynn of Lorn. Looking left I can see the entrance to Lock Leven.  This whole area has deep valleys, some of which are fault related and some are the results of Glacial ice movement.

Once over the waters of the Lynn of Lorn, it is not long before the destination airport is in sight.  Tine to let ATC know I am on approach to enter the circuit and ask for permission to land. Landing light on.

Check the airspace on the crosswind leg and set first flap position, speed at 80 kts. descend to 500 feet AGL - wheel brakes off. That's just pilot speak for getting ready to land.

Kiss the tarmac at about 60 kts with second flap position selected and gently apply the wheel brakes.  Look for the runway exit point which is on the right, second exit and turn off to the grass parking area.

Parking brake on, Lights off, engine off, switches closed, fuel off.  General walk around to cover up instruments and place chocks and locks. Be aware that I have sufficient fuel to do a return trip, so no need to refuel at this point.

Any flight that you can walk away from is a successful flight.

Christmas Tree

Last year we had a Christmas tree which was cut off from the top of a mature tree that had been felled for timber.  It was pushed into a pot of compost and used as a decorative tree.  In the new year, I re-potted the tree and put it out in the garden. and it has again been re-potted after it had produced a dense root ball.

This tree is now residing in out conservatory as our new and recycled Christmas tree.  It has been decorated and we shall add a string of small LCD lights to finish the job.

It is our hope that the same tree will be used for a few more years before it gets planted out.

Our other tree will look OK when we get some batteries charged up to power the lights.