Cottage Diary - Aspenwood self catering luxury Holiday Cottage overlooking Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland.

The native deer casually wander down to helpfully mow the grass on a bright but rather chilly evening aware of me watching them but unafraid. A perfect picture of Spring. Seconds after I took this photo it started to rain lightly but by the time I had raced the short distance indoors to protect the camera the rain had turned to hailstones. The deer run for shelter under the trees, their tranquility and supper ruined. Locals say that fresh snow has fallen recently on Ben Wyvis,the munro mountain at 3400ft that towers over the city of Inverness. This is the wettest May that we have known in the 10 years that we have lived here and indeed parts of Europe have had torrential rain. Certain counties of South East England now have a hosepipe ban in operation even though it has not stopped raining every day since the announcement causing the newspapers to headline 'Wettest drought in history'. On TV we watched a fascinating but worrying programme about climatic changes and world wide disasters possibly caused by global warming. Just heard about the earthquake in Indonesia and the volcanic awakening. What is happening? Welcome any comments on strange weather patterns in the part of the world where you live.
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After a rather wild week weatherwise Sunday dawned chilly for May but with a blue sky and the welcome promise of sunshine. As the day progressed the sun continued to shine so we took advantage and went for a long drive. On the way home we stopped at the village of Dores situated at the eastern end of Loch Ness and sat at the picnic tables of The Dores Inn for a drink and to watch the world go by. Quite a few people come here especially at weekends to walk along the pebbly beach,play with their dogs and feed the ducks. The view down the loch to Fort Augustus with the wooden uprights of old piers still standing is quite stunning. Earlier this year we saw cormorants sitting on several posts with their wings outstretched to dry them before taking off to their next port of call.

The area around Aspenwood has been teeming with wildlife lately. A rich variety of birds visit the bird table and enjoy eating the different foods on the menu. The greater spotted woodpecker has been on the nut feeder. However they all scatter rapidly when the predatory sparrowhawk suddenly appears from nowhere hoping for a catch. The osprey has been spotted flying high over Loch Ness and has been returning here every year for as long as we have lived here. The male arrives first from Africa in late April and gets the same nest ready for the female to lay the eggs in when she arrives later. When the young are strong enough they all fly back to Africa in August. On the ground we have partridges and red-legged partridges doing the rounds.
Philip the pheasant seems to have lost his lady love as well as one of his tail feathers and has become quite tame and friendly. Most of the neighbours feed him so he will follow you around waiting for food and he even had the cheek to enter a neighbours kitchen through the patio doors as his breakfast was late arriving! Went to Aspenwood to prune the honeysuckle and disturbed a big brown hare very near the cottage which quickly lopped up the bank and off into Farigaig Forest. On the way into Inverness Ray saw a red squirrel run across the road down to the loch for a drink with a baby squirrel in its mouth. The 2 resident deer wander around the property and helpfully mow the grass.
Went to a friends house and saw a pine marten outside in the garden. We have been lucky enough to see these close up at a neighbours house and we threw them scraps of meat. As they were tucking eagerly into their food along came the black and white badger for his evening meal of peanuts. As we have no fences around the cottage all the wildlife can come and go as they please - who needs to watch a wildlife programme on the TV with all this going on.
Visit the Wildlife pages for more details and photos.

Making the most of the good weather we drove south west down the length of Loch Ness to the village of Fort Augustus and then crossed over the Caledonian Canal to drive by the side of the smallest loch of The Great Glen - Loch Oich. About halfway down at Invergarry we took the A87 road for a few miles and then turned left onto a single track road signposted to Tomdoun. We journeyed on for 20 miles to the very end of the road which literally just stopped at the mouth of the sea loch - Loch Hourn on the west coast between Mallaig and the Kyle of Lochalsh - the entrance to the romantic Isle of Skye. We passed some dramatic wild scenery, cascading water burns, beautiful Loch Quoich and snow topped Munroe mountains - mountains above 3000feet.
Wild red deer ambled in front of the car as if we had no right to be in their territory which we respected. Enjoyed a picnic and realised that this stunning scenery was only about 50 miles from our doorstep. Who needs to go abroad for a holiday or a great day out!

Sitting out in the evening sunshine yesterday when a very proud and plump male pheasant came strutting and clucking up the driveway. We wondered what all the noise and showing off was about but then saw that he was out to impress his female companion - as most males do. He escorted her round to the bird table where they enjoyed the remnants of seed and nuts on the ground - boy did this colourful guy know how to impress a lady!
Without waiting to pay the bill they ambled off down the grass bank and away for high jinks in the heather.

A very misty day today with the sea haar mist blowing in from the chilly east coast and we can hardly see across Loch Ness. We were going for a walk along Dores beach but decided to cancel that idea and visit friends at The Pottery House in Dores instead. Caught them attending to their free range hens in the garden and they kindly gave us some fresh eggs laid this morning. Might go out for the day tomorrow to a part of the Highlands we have never visited armed with our egg sandwiches and other goodies so keep watching. The weather is supposed to be clear and warm tomorrow so should be an exciting trip.
On the drive back home we passed a field with horses that seemed to look rather sad and needed cheering up so we got out and told them a few jokes and generally chatted for a few minutes. As this did not seem to work we left them to their thoughts.

The lambs are getting bigger now and more confident. They often leave their mothers sides and hang about in frisky gangs and seem to be thoroughly enjoying life. In the opposite field there are new born calves laying in the sun.

Gorse is growing everywhere and lining all the roads and lanes. The weather is warmer at last and we are looking forward to getting out in the Spring sunshine.

This is a trip we have been meaning to do for a couple of years ever since guests at Aspenwood told us about these dramatic waterfalls. We drove round Loch Ness to Inverness and on to Drumnadrochit. Here we took the 831 to Cannich. Instead of taking the right hand turn to picturesque Glen Affric we turned left at the signposted road to Plodda Falls. A very twisty turny road led us eventually to the car park. We could hear the falls as we walked down towards them and they were certainly well worth the visit. The water plunges about 100feet down into a bubbling steamy mass and eventually feeds into the River Glass. The sun came out so we sat at the picnic tables and enjoyed our lunch sharing it with the cheeky chaffinches. Thanks Elaine and Ian..