Ballochbuie

On Thursday I sampled pine roots for monoterpene analysis at Ballochbuie Pinewood on the Balmoral Estate. That’s right children, I popped over to the Queen’s holiday house for a root. My careful spadework paid off and a splendid time was had by all. But with weather and scenery like this, is it any surprise? Tomorrow's plan is for some serious birding with my office-mate Colin and his family.

Stonehaven

As promised, here's a few photos from a trip to Stonehaven on Sunday. Stonehaven is only 15 miles south of Aberdeen - some people commute from there. As you'll see, it's a beautiful wee fishing village, and from the harbour you can walk the 1 and a half miles south along the clifftops to Dunnottar Castle. Although it's now in ruins, Dunnottar is incredibly impressive in it's location. Apparently it's been used as some sort of a fortress for most of the last 2,000 years and for most of the last millenium was the strongest and most significant castle in the north-east. I guess I'll learn more about the history on my next visit if I cough up the 5 quid to get inside. The day was all the better for the weather, once again we had sunshine, no fog, and a North Sea that was almost dead calm, apart from the bloody jet-skiers. The steep cliffs here are covered in nesting seabirds, most of which are herring gulls, but I also saw eiders (my first marine ducks) and razorbills. No puffins this time though (Jane wants me to save the puffins to see with her, but I don't adopt that policy with movies and I don't think I will for birds either - it's not like I can hire a DVD if I miss my chance). I went to Stonehaven with (from left) Sigrun, Sonja, Virginia, Rocio and Tony.

Springtime

Finally. The last week has seen some less wintry weather here in Aberdeen. I guess I must be getting used to the weather here to be so grateful for sub-20 degree days, but with the birds singing, flowers popping up everywhere and the sun shining, it's hard not to be lifted a bit.

Last weekend I took a few photos around the Cunningham Building, where I live, but didn't manage to catch any decent ones of the three roe deer i regularly see around the house, the oystercatchers that wake me in the morning with their 'oiking' outside my window, the tawny owls that i hear at night but haven't spotted yet (although they roost in one of the big conifers at the Macaulay), the tufted ducks on the pond next door or any of the various other birds that are making regular appearances, such as sparrowhawks, bullfinches and goldcrests. I saw a few woodmice (Apodemus sylvaticus) live-trapped next to the building this week - they're a better-looking rodent than house mice, which is good for them, I guess. Right, that's the zoology out of my system for now.

On Tuesday I went with Dave and Joan to collect pine cones and needles from the last of the 21 woods, this time at Glen Derry, on Deeside. Dave and Joan seemed especially relieved to have finished after doing this fairly solidly for the last 2 months (whereas I only visited half the sites). Glen Derry was a good wood to finish on - it's a big wood, the walking's easy, the surroundings are superb and the weather was magnificent. I even got slightly sunburnt, although when the northerly wind comes down off the snowy hills, it can turn from toasty to arctic pretty quickly. We spotted a couple of black grouse cocks and a Scottish crossbill (Britain and Scotland's only endemic bird) too. Oops, zoology again. We rounded off the day with a brief stop at the Lin of Dee, where the River Dee passes through a very narrow and deep rocky chute for 30 metres or so. I'm planning a bit of mountain biking around that area later in the year.

So Tuesday was the highlight of my week. Here in Aberdeen, or at least at the Macauly, we don't get any holidays for Easter - not even Good Friday - although plenty of people are taking timeoff at the moment. My exciting plan is to keep working today and get out of town, perhaps to Stonehaven or somewhere up Deeside tomorrow. Had another night in the Prince of Wales in town last night, where the beers sampled included a 'Sheepshagger' (a local beer, naturally). I met still more non-Scots, including Spaniards, a German and some Fins, and had more discussions about disappointing British food and "what's with all the vomit?". The footpath on Union Street is really not a pretty site in the evenings, but the scariest thing is that the evening's vomiting activities kick off from about 6pm! Tonight I'm off to a Nicaraguan's birthday party tonight. Would rather be with Jane at Euan and Jen's wedding in Townsville, but I'll make do.

I don't think I've mentioned one of the best things about Scotland yet - that's the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Basically it means that you can walk, run or cycle almost anywhere you like, as long as you follow a few reasonable rules, like not interfering with farm or forestry operations, keeping away from people's houses and leaving gates as they're found. Bring it on in Australia I reckon!