Skye

At 4pm on Friday a week ago I decide to forgo a bank holiday weekend at my desk in favour of a hastily-arranged trip to the Isle of Skye. Liz needed to find her study species, an innocuous rock cress (Arabis) related to Arabidopsis, and had room for a few extras in the car, so Sigrun, Charlotte and I tagged along. We had great weather for the long drive west. We took the scenic and less busy, but possibly slower and certainly hillier route, up Deeside, through the Cairgorms and over the Lecht to Inverness. From there we headed up the Ness to Loch Ness (no monsters on this, my first visit, but I was driving and am not sure the others were really paying enough attention to the dark, ripling sufaces). Halfway along the loch, we headed west, through more mountains and along Glen Shiel and eventually to Kyle of Lochalsh, where we crossed the Skye bridge.

We stopped for a coffee in Port Righ, before heading north to Storr on the Trottenish Peninsula, where the plant was to be found. By this stage the weather was closing in a bit and by the time we climbed through the forest to the spectacular baslat rock formations known as needle rock and the Old Man of Storr, at the foot of Storr, things were getting nasty - wind, rain and cold. Worthwhile nonetheless, as we found the first plants within minutes and then found plenty more around the bases of the cliffs, some even in flower.


We stayed in a youth hostel on the west side of the Trottenish Peninsula, in a very small village called Uig. The dorms were smelly but adequate. We dined at a hotel near to the hostel, myself on a fine venison haggis, washed down with some local ales and whiskey. Sunday's weather started equally miserably, with a howling wind, but things improved through the course of the day, but changing dramatically every few minutes. We drove back to Storr around the north of the peninsula, stopping for some iron-age Pictish ruins and castles etc. I was pretty amazed and (pleasantly surprised of course) to receive a call from Jane on my mobile as I emerged from an underground Pictish dairy storehouse, on a windswept clifftop, surrounded by a lot of nothingness and facing west only towards the outer Hebrides. Weird. I didn't get reception anywhere else on the island.


Later that day, we drove further south, down Glen Brittle along the west side of the spectacular mountain range known as the black Cuillin, in awe of the knife-edge ridges which are strangely popular with hillwalkers and climbers who are presumably less bothered by heights than me. We visited a beach at the end of Glen Brittle in a brief gap between showers and then headed back towards Uig via Dunvegan and its (expensive and closed, anyway) castle. Had a nice stroll through the woods there. Another night at another small hotel/pub in Uig and then a slow start on Monday before the long drive back, this time via an almost-too-cute village called Plockton. Weather conditions weren't the best for photography, but here's a few (some courtesy of Charlotte). Click on the photos to look at bigger versions.


Other highlights of the last weeks include the Lemonheads last Wednesday - a good-sized crowd from the Macaulay turned up to see Evan Dando looking and sounding much the same as ever. A good gig, a fact emphasised by a hilariously bad support act. To be fair, it was probably their first gig in public rather than in front of a mirror.

I've spent the last week as the guest of the very hospitable Colin and Victoria, nearby to work and will move into my new flat this week.

...and oi, leave some comments on my blog so I know someone's looking at it!

Balmoral 10km

Sorry for the long interval between posts, I guess the most obvious excuse is that I haven't been doing too much, or taking many photos. At any rate, the highlights of my last few weeks have been 1. an amazing gig last week 2. surviving the Balmoral 10km race and 3. finding a flat to move into.

The amazing gig was Micah P. Hinson and the Opera circuit at the Tunnels in Aberdeen, a week ago. I'd already been tipped off that Micah Hinson was good live, and had coaxed Richard, Keith and Rocio along with this promise and a listen to Micah P. Hinson and the Gospel of Progress. Richard was obviously already convinced as he went out and bought two albums before the gig. For those of you who don't know Hinson's music, well it's not exactly happy, but it's certainly sincere. he has a pretty amazing life story, especially given that he's on 23 years old. You can read a bit about him on Wikipedia, an interview here and more importantly you can hear a bit of his music at his myspace site. If you ever get a chance to see him live, make sure you don't miss it. Even if the genres he gets put in (usually Americana or alt-country, or even alt country/punk) sound unappealing, I don't think there's many people who wouldn't be impressed at his live performances. He and a bass/banjo/lapsteel player and a drummer played for 2 1/2 hours, stopping only for a quick cigarette in the doorway (smoking is banned in all venues in Scotland) at one stage. And they played hard. Any of you who have spoken to me (or Keith, Richard or Rocio) have probably heard enough about this already, but wow.

Last Saturday I took part in my first running race for years. This was the 10km Balmoral run, in the grounds of Balmoral Castle. The weather was perfect (in fact I got sunburnt) and with 1500 or so people running in the main race, with still others in the 5km and kids' races and plenty of friends and family around the atmosphere was pretty cheery too. As usual, I made it to the starting line just in time and lined up next to Alan and then was off almost straight away. The first 3.5 km was flat, followed by a really pretty steep hill for 1.5km or so and then downhill and flat all the way home. I thought I was taking it pretty easy on the flat, but then did push things a bit harder (but not too hard) up the hill, which is usually my strength. I did overtake the most people while I was heading uphill, but then a lot of people really don't cope too well with hills! I passed the pipers playing on the hilltop and then found I didn't have too much left to give. I don't like running downhill, but even once I got to the flat I wasn't feeling too wonderful. The course is cunningly designed so you can see the finish line for about the last 2 km of the race. Eventually I found the energy to accelerate slightly towards the finish line, and would have gone a bit harder if I'd known that Alan's wife Ruth was only 4 place ahead of me. I was pretty pleased to finish in 47.22 - anything under 50 mins would have satisfied me, anything over 1hr would have disappointed. Except for the freakish Mark, who despite a lack of training and a heavy smoking habit finished in 11th place, I finished ahead of all my workmates, and if I was competing against anyone I guess it was them. You can check out the results here if you're interested. Here's a photo after the finish. Don't look at my skinny legs.


The final highlight I guess was finding a place to live! It's a great flat near the city and near the beach. I won't be moving in for a week or two, so after moving out from the Cunningham Building on Sunday, I'll be couch surfing for a bit. Jane arrives on the 25th, hopefully to a welcoming flat.

It's a bank holiday weekend here and I've decided at the last minute to join some friends for a trip to the Isle of Skye! Back on Monday.

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!

Morton 4, Forfar 0. Forfar's sake!

Who says a science degree won't get you anywhere?

Well I've almost shaken my cold, which imposed a bit of a restraint upon my activities the last week. I took it pretty easy until Friday, when I figured I was ready for a gentle run - I'm now officially in training for the Balmoral 10km race on 28 April, as Sara and I signed up during the week. Apparently I'm meant to wear a kilt to be in the running for the first across the line in a kilt prize. We'll see.

Friday night was a big farewell dinner (50 people) for a few upcoming departures from the Macaulay, including Alan Duncan, who I've known since he spent 6 months in Canberra quite a few years ago. even though the dinner marked several redundancies, it was heartening to see such a happy and friendly bunch of work mates all together.

When Sunday came around, it was time to venture forth from the Macaulay again, so I took a trip with Richard and Russel to Forfar, 1hr south of Aberdeen to watch Rusty's team, Greenock Morton, take on Forfar. It was not an even match. I guess one clue would have been the fact that although the game was in Forfar and Morton fans had travelled 3hrs or so from beyond Glasgow, there was not a Forfar fan to be seen. In the end Morton won 4-0, but 10-0 would have been fair enough. At any rate, a bit of local culture never hurt anyone and I had a good afternoon of it. I even scoffed a 'famous Forfar bridie', which is something like a cross between a pie and a pastie, filled with something that tastes a bit like haggis, but which I presume is similar to the contents of most pies you'd buy at the footy in Australia (lips and arseholes). I'm not sure if that's better or worse than supermarket haggises, of which the first listed ingrediant is lung. We had a quiet beer after the game, followed by a visit to a chippie that offer such delights as scampie (my choice), "mock chop" (?!?) and pizza (batter 30p extra). To top it off, we saw a pair of peregrines roosting on the church tower in Forfar's main street. A fine day, and incidentally the days now run until about 8 in the evening, which is a big improvement.

That's it. I'll try to be more exciting next week.

I'llLiveWithA NewtOn-Ben

Palmate newt - Triturus helveticus

Don't expect a cheery post from me this time around - I've caught my first British cold and it's a doozie. Luckily I made it through the week in the field but from there went straight to bed on Friday arvo and have become thoroughly bored with the view from my window since then... if I wasn't bored already - it consists of a lawn and a grey wall, but at least with a eucalypt poking over the top!

Last week's field work was based in Lairg, in Sunderland, a huge area of northern Scotland once owned by the Duke of Sutherland who was evidently chief villain of the highland clearances in the 19th century. The landscape was not as dramatic as I saw in Ross; more rolling hills, rivers and lochs than icy jagged peaks. Two of the woods we visited had previously been planted with typically dense conifer plantations amongst the remnant pines, but these had subsequently been removed. In one case they had been left lying on the ground though, which made the going a bit less than pleasant. Wildlife-wise, we saw sika deer, a few red grouse, a kite, wigeon, redshanks and cormorants. I also saw my first British herpetefauna - toads and newts acting like it was springtime in a puddle. I think that's a sizeable proportion of this country's amphibians that I've seen now!

If I'm up to it, I'll be in the field again next Wednesday, but otherwise at my desk. I've posted a picture of Dave and Joan, partners in cone-gathering, on the pier at Golspie, and one of Jim and Kaska in their kitchen before their party last weekend. Jim and Kaska have an apartment in Tayport with an amazing view across the Firth of Tay. Sometimes they can see dolphins from their window!

The other great news this week is that Jane has booked her ticket and will be joining me here in May.