Thursday & Friday 12& 13 May

I moved on north via Blair Atholl, stopping to visit Blair Castle.

Lots to see but all seemed slightly moth-eared and a little disorganised.  Why is that good in a museum but not in a castle.  Maybe it is the difference between £0 and £7.95.

 

The castle and the piper (female)

One of the things about travelling north is it’s like turning back time – cherry trees in full bloom and daffodils

which reminds me of a British Rail special trip (those were the days!) from Coventry to Balmoral at the beginning of June as a friend’s birthday celebration in, I think, 1982.  We hadn’t gone prepared for the change in temperature; we were shocked to find that the Balmoral daffodils were just coming out.  We had a very chilly, damp and memorable picnic on the bank of the Dee.

and cowslips…

 

One of the Blair Castle peacocks didn’t impress the hen..

An unexplained carved cupboard

I stopped at Grantown on Spey for two nights.  On Friday I went to see the Lock Garten Osprey nest,

 

The nest on the left, one of the cameras is to the right of the leafless tree on the right.

As she had been brought fish earlier in the morning, there was little activity for most of the time I was there.  She flew off briefly.  She is sitting on 3 eggs which should hatch in a week or so.

I did manage to get a photo of a red squirrel at the Loch Garten site