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

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Dolphin alert !!

Our guests last week went to Chanonry Point on The Black Isle and joined the eager crowd waiting on the beach in the hope of spotting the Moray Firth dolphins. They were not disappointed and soon they appeared in awesome numbers quite close to the shore. We have also experienced the excited gasps and cheers from the crowd when these magnificent creatures first appear - a dorsal fin at first cutting through the choppy waters of the Moray Firth ...........and then hopefully an acrobatic flip .............. and maybe the full spectacular crescent dive out of the water followed by a huge splash to end the performance and a round of applause from the watching crowd.

Check out more information on the dolphins of the Moray Firth.
First 3 photos copyright of Neil Wroe and many thanks for allowing us to share them.

posted by Lyn @ 2:09 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 25, 2007

Seals

Our guests last week - Neil & Wendy - went on a day trip to the small village of Plockton situated in a sheltered bay on the west coast of Scotland and boarded the 'Argus' seal trip vessel. Calum and his crew of the boat have been operating for 26 years and are always confident of finding seals - and he certainly did. They saw seals with their pups relaxing in the cool seaweed on the rocks completely oblivious to those watching with amazement and also saw large groups of seals sunbathing together.
They also saw the dolphins at Chanonry Point - soon to be seen on this page... so keep watching!
Photos copyright of Neil Wroe - thanks for allowing us to share them.

posted by Lyn @ 3:16 PM 0 comments

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Resident deer + baby

Mother and baby deer came for a visit this morning along the grass bank in front of the house much to our black cat Maisie's surprise. Ray let Maisie out at 3.25 this morning for her hunting session and at that time in the early morning in the Highlands it is broad daylight.
The baby deer suddenly stopped and stared - possibly at the first cat it had seen but nobody was particularly bothered.

The weather has been misty and showery all week but by evening time the sun has often burst through the clouds enabling us to enjoy a drink outside and watch the sun go down gradually and stay outside until about 9.45 p.m. In another month the sun will set over the mountain at 11.30.p.m.

posted by Lyn @ 3:08 PM 0 comments

Monday, June 18, 2007

Caledonian Canal celebration

Over the weekend we have noticed several unusual tall masted ships navigating westwards along Loch Ness. On further investigation we found out that they were heading to the Corpach basin near Fort William to celebrate 200 years history of the Caledonian Canal. During this time a great contribution was made by the Canal to both local communities and to various types of sailing craft enabling them to avoid using the treacherous Pentland Firth between mainland Scotland and Orkney. This week there is a week long event on the entire length of the Canal from Fort William to Inverness. We look forward to seeing a fleet of about 20 craft, typifying the various types of craft that have used the Canal over the past 200 years Check out more information on the Caledonian Canal . Will look out for the fleet and keep you posted.

posted by Lyn @ 4:07 PM 0 comments

Friday, June 15, 2007

Wind and sunshine.

Quite windy but warm,dry weather for the last two days making the waves crash onto the shore of Loch Ness. Drove out to Inverarnie stores to collect some bedding plants - which hopefully the resident deer won't eat. Came the long way back home as it was pleasantly sunny and calmer inland. We passed some magnificent horses in the fields which seemed very content with their life.

posted by Lyn @ 5:03 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

A busy time for the birds.

A very busy pied wagtail has been flying onto the ground near the house to collect moss for the nest. He is quite bold and struts about on the pebbles looking for various construction materials much to the annoyance of the cats. A constant swarm of young siskins have been gorging at the table and nut feeders. Baby chaffinches are being fed by the parent birds although they will open their beaks to any bird in the location.
The lambs are growing quite rapidly now and wander about quite freely at the top of the corkscrew road where there is very little traffic to worry them.

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posted by Lyn @ 1:26 PM 0 comments

Friday, June 08, 2007

Hello deer.

Had a surprise visit this morning from a mother deer and her very young fawn who suddenly emerged from the bushes behind our bird table. The fawn stood still for a long time and gazed curiously at us, possibly we were the first human beings it had seen. The mother was never too far away and kept a watchful eye on us whilst eating at the same time. When she moved further up into the forest the youngster quickly bounded after her and was soon lost from sight in the heather and blueberry bushes.

posted by Lyn @ 3:28 PM 0 comments

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Farigaig forest.

The haar mist eventually burnt itself down into the waters of Loch Ness this morning revealing a cloudless blue sky above. We went for a leisurely walk into Farigaig Forest listening to the bird songs and crunching on fallen pine cones underfoot. The bluebells or 'wild hyacinths' as they are called by locals are still blooming profusely under the trees and they have provided a very good show this year.

posted by Lyn @ 11:30 AM 0 comments

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Red squirrels

On our travels recently we were fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of our native red squirrel in the conifer trees enjoying the sunshine. Easily recognisable by the striking orange-red fur with white underfront, ear tufts and the long bushy tail which is almost as long as its body. The Highland region is the only part of Scotland where the red squirrel thrives and the grey squirrels, which were introduced from North America, are absent. After a sunbathe and a quick glance at us the squirrel rapidly scuttled away to the safety of the top of the tree.

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posted by Lyn @ 1:13 PM 0 comments

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