A strange eerie mist enveloped us all day yesterday and we could just make out Urquhart Castle loomimg out onto Loch Ness. After a few very cold days last week we did have a white Christmas - although it was frost rather than snow. The temperature has risen lately and today there is a westerly wind blowing along the Great Glen producing alot of white water. We will see what 2007 brings us.
The rain has finally stopped and the days are crisp and clear. There is still some snow on the mountain tops opposite. An eerie mist rolled in from the west this morning almost covering the mountain side and looked like a giant smoke signal. A very cold clear day yesterday followed by a beautiful starry night making it easy to pick out some of the constellations. Early this morning there was a slight frost on the grass and the temperature is just above zero at the moment but expected to plunge tonight. The cold weather seems to have come as a bit of a shock after the mild November and early December weeks. We look forward to welcoming our Christmas guests soon and hope they have a safe journey to Aspenwood.
The bird table is a flurry of activity this time of the year and there is always a mixed variety of foods on the menu. Breakfast time is especially busy and the nut feeders hooked under the table are a mass of little colourful bodies gorging themselves. Plenty of blue tits, coal tits, great tits and the other day we had a swarm of long tailed tits for the first time. The chaffinches, greenfinches and siskins appear throughout the day.The robins and blackbirds prefer to dine at the table and love any form of cake, bread and yorkshire pudding scraps. Had a female pheasant searching for food droppings on the ground under the table. She stayed for quite a while and was not frightened of the cat sitting near watching her, in fact the cat was more nervous the closer she got.
Christmas decorations from last year. Eventually found them in the rafters and now the tree and decorations are brightening our house. This activity always takes forever as both cats get highly excited at the sight of tinsel and dive at anything sparkly that dares to move. Good fun was had by all. Snow is forecast for the week ahead. Cheers.
Tribes of feral goats roam the area and have been in the fields adjacent to Boleskine House overlooking Loch Ness for a few weeks now. They have coats of various combinations of black and white, but they also occur with brown or even silver hair. The billy goats have splendid long horns which are not shed like deer antlers but continue growing. They have annual growth ridges on them which give an indication of the animals age and which can be seen with binoculars. They mate in October/November when there is a lot of fighting between the males. Kids are born in January or in March in areas above 1000ft. They are very nimble footed and wander around and breed on inland cliffs, sea cliffs and open stony ground. On our journey to Applecross on the west coast in May we had to stop for a mother and her kid which scampered across the track road and down the cliff bank to the shores of Loch Torridon. 
