Going, going, gone...

During our morning walk in Duthie Park, over the past month Gail and I have been monitoring the leaves on our favourite sycamore tree.

OK, strictly speaking, she has been doing the monitoring and I have mostly been busy sniffing around in the bushes, only briefly emerging to appear in the photos. 

If I feel like it. 

'Cos I'm a terrier and that's how I roll. 

10 October 2021

30 October 2021

10 November 2021

Happy Nature Friday! Thanks once again to our lovely friends Rosy, Arty, Sunny and Jakey, for hosting the blog hop. Do go and visit the other posts - you won't regret it! 

Patiently posing, up to a point...

When yellow birch leaves dapple paths,

and bracken turns to rust (its final stand),

and dreich autumnal chill preserves the post-rain mud, 

then Nature Friday posing starts to pall, 

and soon you'll see a damp still handsome butt, 

disappearing down the hill. 

Happy Nature Friday, friends. Once again huge thanks to Rosy and The Gang for hosting this our very favourite blog hop. Do join in! 

Nature Friday: Woodland Walk at Drum Castle

Today I am delighted to join the LLB gang's new Nature Friday blog hop, and take you on a late autumn stroll through an ancient woodland in the grounds of Drum Castle.

Do please come and enjoy the walk with me. Humans will need a stout pair of shoes, as the path is a wee bit muddy in places. But it is not a long distance, just over a mile I believe, and any inclines are quite gentle, so most of my friends, even those of more senior years, should manage it.

Let's get going!

Or should that be sniffing? 

Do you like a yellow and golden carpet of birch leaves?

Or maybe you prefer a more monochrome bed of beech?

Myself, I think the grass dappled with wobbly edged oak leaves is the prettiest ground covering!

The walk ends in a small pine plantation

With a fine view over the Aberdeenshire countryside.

Fortunately I think we will make it back to the car before it starts to rain!

I do hope you enjoyed my outing today. I am now looking forward to reading all the other Nature Friday posts.

On a rainy October morning

Do you ever just take the time ...

... to stop and wonder at the glory of the changing seasons?

Is it a sheep or a rock?

I am sure regular readers who saw my last post will be relieved to learn that Gail and I are not planning to abandon hill walking for mall walking any time soon.

On Sunday we summited (is that really a verb?) Clachnaben in Aberdeenshire. It was a grey day, and boy was it windy at the top, but the autumn colours were still looking pretty, especially when set against my own varicoloured furs.

However, in my opinion the photos below are somewhat disfigured by the fact that I am wearing my 'flexi' walking string. Gail deemed this necessary due to sheep grazing at random locations along the route.

I might add that many of the objects Gail thought were sheep turned out, on closer inspection, to be rocks.

Perhaps kind friends could remind a certain person that a visit to the optician is overdue.

And then it was autumn

A treat most unexpected,

But welcome as a bone,

A week of sun, blue skies, still air,

When summer should be gone.

It could not last, it felt

So undeserved. And yet

When normal service weatherwise

Resumed today, and wet,

Cool, blustery, and dour,

The world o'ernight transformed,

I thought it quite unfair,

And for the sunshine mourned.

Then Gail cried "Chin up Bertie,

Remember what they say,

There's no bad weather just bad clothes.

Put on your coat, and seize the day!"

Perfect Autumn Weekend

 Fine walks

Splendid scenery

Fiery Autumn colours

A tranquil loch (yes, for a nanosecond, we had no wind....)

And at the end of it all, a cosy evening in front of the fire with a good book.

King of the Castle (an Autumn Fantasy)

Sunday afternoon. Finally, it stopped raining.

But the weather still looked 'uncertain'. (Round these parts, that's code for 'could start pee-ing down again any minute'). So we decided against an exposed hill walk and instead went exploring the woods and gardens surrounding Crathes Castle.

We almost had the place to ourselves. I felt quite at home.

The Castle and adjacent land belongs to the National Trust for Scotland. Apparently the NTS are short of a bob or two. I have an idea!  Gail could buy it from them. I feel I deserve a country estate. Don't you think this would do nicely?

PS: You still have until Friday to apply for the field trip - see last but one post. BBB.