Yesterday we decided to go for a walk up Ben Bhraggie.

There had been some more snowfall overnight and it was a lovely sunny crisp morning.

I just love the way snow sparkles in the sunshine.

It was a great time to take some more photographs.

On the way back a robin was following us along the road.  I took a couple of photographs.

I’m saving up for a new lens, so looking forward to getting that soon.

I hope you like the photographs:

 

Woke up this morning to a covering of snow on the ground.  I was on leave from work, and we decided to go out with the cameras.

We put layers of clothing on so we would be warm, but it was actually  warm and sunny out despite the covering of snow.

The loch looked as beautiful as ever and some lovely photographs were taken. 

Below are a few of the photographs taken today:

 

Last weekend was our final visit this year to see the seals before they disappeared for another year!

The weather was wet and rainy, but we didn’t let that put us off on the long walk down the cliffs.

By the time we got to the beach it had stopped raining.

I decided to go and find a small group of seal pups and sat there for ages,  just talking to the seals and seeing them gradually getting used to me.  A newly born seal pup moved towards me and to my surprise it sniffed my hand.  This was a very special moment.

Once the seal pups were used to me, they started playing about, rolling over and doing funny things.  You’ll see what I mean when you look at the photographs! 

One of the larger seal pups decided to clamber up the beach towards me, must have wanted a closer look.  I  edged back up the beach (their teeth are quite large!).  It looked friendly enough, but a safe distance is good enough for me! 

It’s always a special time of year and looking forward to next year when they come back.  Just working through the hundreds of photographs I have taken.  I hope you like the photographs below:

Yesterday we decided it was about time to take a trip down to see the seals and hopefully their pups.

It was a very long, hard and steep walk, sometimes walking on the cliff edges, but it was well worth it when we reached our destination. 

I would say that the seal population is definitely not in decline.  We spent most of the day with the seals, just sitting still for ages until they gradually got used to us.  One of the seal pups even started rolling over and playing, just like a little puppy.

Opportunities like this do not come up very often and it was amazing just to sit and spend time with the seals.   

I hope you like the photographs.  If you haven’t visited Highlands of Scotland Photography yet, please have a look through the beautiful photographs on there.  Some of the seal photographs from today will  be on the website soon.  Below is a link to the seals pages:

Highlands of Scotland Photography – Click here

 

 

It has been another busy week, all good though

Yesterday we went out for a 4 mile walk and did a spot of gold panning.  The weather was beautiful, warm and sunny.  Then we got back and drove down to Inverness to pick up some dining room chairs.  I managed to find some lovely chairs to go with the table I had previously purchased.

I did a lot of housey things today.  I have been meaning to cut the grass for a while, but it is always wet when I go to do it.   So this morning I looked out of the window and saw some sheep wandering outside the front of the house and then I looked out the back, the sheep had taken a wrong turn and ended up in my back garden, it was rather amusing as they were having a nibble on the grass!  They didn’t stay long though. 

It is only a few weeks now until the seals and seal pups start appearing on the beaches, so that is something to look forward to.

Thought I’d post a couple of piccies as below:

Happy with the new dining room chairs:

The sheep in my back garden, very amusing!

Some boats on the Loch:

Red life guard ring:

Not long until the seal pups start reappearing, can’t wait!

It has been a very busy couple of weeks and I have now moved house.

It has been a real blessing to have help with the move from my fiance and friends, so thank you all. 

This house has a lovely large window in the kitchen, so I thought, hmmm,  I think i’ll put a nice comfy chair there, so I can sit and enjoy the view.  This comfy chair has now been claimed by the cat.  She practically spends 24/7 sat there staring out at the birds and making funny meowing noises at them.  I’m happy she’s happy though

I have gradually been getting bits and pieces together  for the house.  I just need a microwave oven and some chairs to go with the dining table I bought, so that’s not bad at all and then just a few things to make the house comfy like cushions and a few pictures on the wall.  All in all it has been a great couple of weeks.

I’m also starting to make friends with the local wildlife.  I have had a couple of Pied Wagtails in the back garden that seem quite tame (when the cat isn’t there).

Below are a couple of photographs I have taken of the house.  Until next time

The Kitchen:

The Living Room:

The Window that now has a comfy chair that the cat will not leave!

Local Wildlife:

Hungry Local Wildlife:

Last weekend we went for a walk to the Broch to take some photographs.  As we were walking through the heather, I noticed a beautiful caterpillar.  It was large and bright green with white spots.  It just had to be photographed.

On the way back, a dragonfly landed right behind us and I turned to take some photographs.  

We also saw an unusual butterfly.  I took a photograph from a distance as there were a lot of ticks in the grass!

It was a lovely walk and the weather was fantastic.

It has been very busy this week as i’m getting ready to move house, but I hope to get out and about with the camera more in the future.  The new house has got a sea view, so i’m very excited about that. 

Below are a couple of photographs from the last week:

 

Just a quick little blog this evening.

Last week we went for a walk down the beach to see if we could see any seals.

We could see some black dots in the distance and as we got closer and closer, we could see they were seals.

We had to walk very slowly as we didn’t want to scare the seals.  We managed to get fairly close to the seals and I took a few photographs as below.  Another great trip out!

 

On Wednesday evening after work we were going to travel to Embo beach to take some photographs.  On looking over in the direction of Embo there was quite a lot of sea fog, but on looking in the direction of Rogart and Lairg there were blue skies and beautiful sunshine.  We decided to go on a trip to Shin Falls instead!

We got to Shin Falls and the light wasn’t great for photography, but the salmon were leaping out of the water trying to get up the waterfall.  I had never seen this before, so was amazed how high they can leap out of the water.  There were a few other people at Shin Falls too who were squealing with delight as they saw the fish jumping.  We did see a few salmon make it up the waterfall too!

I took a few photographs, it wasn’t so easy to catch them in action.  Those who know me well will know I have wanted to photograph this for a while!!!

 

And next on the list is to go and visit the Dolphins!!!

It certainly has been a while since I last updated my blog and a lot has happened in the last couple of months.  George and I have got engaged and I now have a beautiful Kildonan gold ring from the gold that George panned.

We are really enjoying our time around Manchester, staying in a new camping pod.  I think these pods are absolutely fantastic.  They are warm, dry and have electricity too.  We are overlooking the pennines and the view is just stunning!

There is an abundance of wildlife around here and we have been able to take some great photographs. 

We visited the Trafford Centre a couple of days ago and went to the cinema to see Pirates of the Caribbean, which was great.   It still amazes me how big the food court is at the Trafford Centre. 

I have posted some photographs below:  Until next time

The Pod we are staying in:

Sunset on the first evening:

 

A beautiful butterfly:

Food Court at the Trafford Centre:

A couple of Goldfinches:

A Dragonfly:

A beautiful Moorhen:

A couple more beautiful sunsets: