Autumn Reflections

A Carpet of fallen leaves

The signs of Autumn are all around.  There is a definite chill in the air and the night-time frosts over the past week have brought more and more colour to the landscape.  The trees are glowing with gold and red and russet hues.  Even the drive to Balloch today was through arches of yellow and brown.

This weekend the clocks go back and although we will be glad of the light in the early mornings, it will certainly be dark by tea time.  Halloween this weekend and then Bonfire Night - at least there are plenty of opportunities to brighten the darker evenings.  The shorter days mean that we have to make the most of what daylight there is and there are still apples on the tree waiting to be picked.  It has been a bumper crop everywhere this year and our apple tree which has previously produced less than a dozen rather wizened specimens is this year laden with fruit with boughs bent over and touching the ground.  The apples are small but sweet and will come in useful in pies, cakes, crumbles and chutneys, as have all the others generously given by neighbours.  All this fruit in gardens and hedgerows is not necessarily an indicator of a hard winter ahead - but of the mild Spring we had this year which allowed all the blossom to set.

There have been some magnificent fungi in the garden and woods - far more than I have been able to identify.  Here are a few of the finer examples A giant puffball the size of a football, a magnificent Fly Agaric and A pebble fungus - well named as is hides in the path.

The other indicator that winter is approaching is the loss of the cattle from the fields.  Today has been the day when Coopers lorry has trundled up and down the lane to fetch the cows to their winter quarters in the steading.  They don't sound too happy as they go past but no doubt will appreciate the warmth and security of their indoor winter home.  We miss seeing them in the fields all around us but will probably get a chance to visit them later in the year when they are settled in.  Every year there are calves born in the steading who first experience the joy of the meadow when they emerge again in Spring.

There is something about the 'transition' seasons - Spring and Autumn - that is quite magical.  There are changes every day and I look forward to cosy nights by the fire and the Christmas lights ahead.  

The Aber Yew

On the walk to the loch the other morning I noticed a number of yew seeds that had fallen from this old yew.  The yew is a very slow growing tree and this one is reputed to be several hundred years old.  The leaflet on the Aber path tells the story associated with the tree and describes how the yew tree was a gathering point for the cattle that were once an important part of life in the township. 

"Glens near the north of Loch Lomond were home to two clans - the Macfarlanes and the Macgregors - who were keen cattle rustlers. Whenever livestock was stolen, the local landowner had to pay his tenants for their losses. Tiring of this expense, William Cochrane of Kilmaronock signed-over the local farmlands to his tenants in the late 1600s, in return for modest payment. Once the small farmers (all of whom were fairly poor) owned the land, the cattle raids stopped!

For more than a century after that, the ‘Aber Lairds’, as the small farmers were 

known, worked the land around here. Each morning, a herdsman would blow a horn beside the yew to muster the Aber cattle. Then he’d take them to the common 

grazings on the Ring, close to the eastern end of this walk. In the evening, more 

blasts of the horn would summon the Aber folk to collect their livestock." 

This history makes it all the more distressing to see the old tree dying.  However, the fact that it has still managed to produce some seeds provides an opportunity for it to continue.  I collected several of the seeds with their fleshy red aril and have been researching the best way to propagate them.  It could take some time as yew seeds can take up to two years to germinate.  Firstly I need to simulate the stomach of a thrush or blackbird and provide some warm damp conditions for a few weeks. Then a harsh winter needs to be created as they go into the bottom of the fridge.  This may need to be repeated if nothing happens next spring.  I just hope I've got the patience and don't forget about them.  I'll report back in a couple of years to see if any of the seeds have sprouted.  Their slow growing nature means that it could be another thirty years before any new plant produces its own seeds.  Definitely a project for the long term.

Happy Brambling

I find the lure of the bramble irresistible and this has been a very good year for blackberries.  The hedgerows are laden with plump purple berries.  The rewards are worth the trials - the scratched hands and stained fingers.
As if the prickles of the bramble weren't weapon enough to deter the picker, they also manage to grow amidst a host of the other well-armed plants.  There is a magnificent crop along the short cut up to the Hall but you need to be well protected.  I fought my way through nettles, hawthorn, dog roses, gorse, thistles and holly to reach the best berries.  This is where a stick comes in handy; although I found the Leki pole not nearly as effective as the old fashioned walking stick with the curved handle for grabbing that best spray of fruit that always seems to be just out of reach.
Once home the brambles have quickly been converted into jelly and blackberry and apple tarts.  I experimented this year and made some little filo tarts in muffin tins.  

Each sheet of filo pastry was cut into four and then two small sheets placed into the muffin tin at an angle to each other.  Layers of apple, blackberries were added with a little sugar (or granulated sweetener) between each layer.  Baked in a hot oven for about ten minutes they were delicious with a small dollop of creme fraiche or ice cream.  This batch didn't last long.
The first batch of jelly that I made was with pure blackberry juice but with the second batch I followed the recipe form the Glasgow Cookbook which includes apples with the berries.  I think I prefer the intensity of flavour of the pure bramble jelly.  It takes me back to my childhood and I still find hot buttered toast with bramble jelly one of life's pleasures.

Springwatch comes to Aber

There is new life everywhere. This wee calf getting a reassuring lick from its Mum is less than an hour old. There was a knock on the back door a couple of nights ago and it was the local farmer telling us of the new arrival. The cow had just given birth in one of the fields towards the loch. We hurried down to see her and after tramping across a couple of fields came upon the mother and her new offspring. Although the calf could just about stand up and walk it was still very wobbly and still didn't quite have full control of its legs.

All round the garden and along the lanes there are families of fledgelings still waiting to be fed by their parents. We followed the efforts of a pair of very hard working blue tits who reared a family in a bird box just by the sitting room window. Unfortunately we missed the day they actually left the nest and we hope they made their first flight safely. There are so many predators around that not all will survive. Driving home today we startled a buzzard who was feeding on a gatepost by the Guide Camp field. It had just caught a young rabbit. It struggled to fly away and skimmed low over the bushes. The rabbit must have been quite a weight and its legs were dangling as the buzzard flew away with it, no doubt taking it back to its own nest of hungry youngsters.

It was very peaceful down at the loch this evening. There were ducks and ducklings, geese and goslings and a grebe and - not sure what a young grebe is called so I think I'll call it a gribling. The raucous laughing call of the shelducks was carrying across the still water. Breaks in the clouds allowed light to stream on to the hills in the distance - idyllic.

Man made changes.

1st April 2010

12th May 2009

What a difference a year can make. When this first photo was taken last May, the part of the Aber Path by the Millennium Hall down to the 'shortcut' was a pleasant footpath with a canopy of trees - a shady start to the walk down to the Loch. When I walked up there today it has become a highway for diggers with caterpillar tractor wheels tearing up the path. The trees have been cut back and completely removed and along with them the ancient stone wall which has been replaced by a wooden fence.

So sad to see the countryside spoiled like this. Farm vehicle access to the field was possible from the other fields around and certainly at present access for walkers is extremely difficult. Boots are essential and be prepared to get bogged down in places. At the very top by the gates (which have been moved around to make way for the heavy earth moving equipment) the only safe path is along by the hedge. As this area is outside the 'village envelope' and therefore will not be considered by planning authorities for housing development, it is difficult to see what the changes can achieve.

The layout and pattern of fields is very much a part of the local heritage and needs to be respected and preserved. This is very clearly demonstrated in the leaflet that Scottish Natural Heritage produced to enable people to appreciate the Aber Path and learn about what can be seen along the way. This shows how the pattern of fields has changed hardly at all since they were marked on a map in 1865 and are still recognisable from the air today. At last month's heritage group meeting, a copy of this amazing map which forms a book of maps and which covers the whole of the Parish of Kilmaronock was available for inspection. It is a sizeable tome and when opened out would cover a table that could comfortably seat four for a meal (once the map had been removed of course).

Any regular readers of this blog will notice that I have also made a few changes to design and layout which I hope you find pleasing. It keeps me amused to play around with all the various tools that are provided by Blogger.

Phenology - what this blog is all about.

This fine figure of a frog emerged from under the damp undergrowth as I was clearing up the garden on Saturday. It was good to get out and enjoy the milder sunnier weather and I think the frog felt the same. I suspect that it is a female full of eggs. There is very little water around for her to lay them in although I took her down to the pond and ditch and hope that the rain will help provide the environment she needs.

The loch is beginning to fill again and return to more normal levels as the snow gradually melts from the hills and mountains. The Campsies are nearly snow free now although there is still quite a lot lying in the gullies on the higher slopes.

It's strange how a word that you have never been aware of before sometimes crops up all over the place. In last month's Dumpling Times I noticed that the Park Rangers are working with children on a phenology project. I had never come across the word 'phenology' before but as the article explained it is the study of seasonal or cyclic changes, particularly in relation to climate, animals and plants.

After giving a talk about this blog at the local heritage group (on the basis that any record or diary kept now may become an archive in the future) a neighbour mentioned to me that the Woodland Trust undertake a national phenological survey that I might be interested in. As one of my reasons for writing this blog was to record changes it seemed a good idea to follow this up. Now that I have registered, observations I make can be recorded online at the Nature's Calendar site where it is also possible to see how Spring (when it finally arrives) advances from South to North across the UK. A very useful booklet gives guidelines on what to record and how to ensure that all observations are made when trees and flowers are at the same stage of development for consistency across the country. This will give me a new purpose when I am out and about - looking for budburst, full leaf and flowers in oaks, elms, and alders as well as recording the wildflowers.

These are still very late this year. There is just one clump of daffodils out by the post box brightening up everyone's day as they drive past. This little group is always ahead of all the others but is even earlier this year. They may be a particularly early variety but they are also in a very sunny and sheltered spot. In the woods and under the hedges, there are signs of some of the leaf shoots of the bluebells and wild garlic. A few more warm days is what we all need!

Can Spring be far away?

This has certainly been a hard winter - and also a long one. Although we are well into March and Mother's day has come and gone the daffodils are still struggling to appear. It feels as though we are waiting a long time for Spring to come

These photos show how much later everything is this year. The snowdrops that line the path down to the loch are beautiful every year. The photo on the left was taken on February 21st 2009 whilst the one on the right taken last weekend - March 14th 2010. As you can see they seem to be at much the same stage of development - just three weeks later this year. They were certainly late to appear as the ground was covered with snow throughout most of January when they generally first appear. Then, the harsh frosts of the last few weeks have battered them down every morning although they revived again in the sunshine later in the day.

It is not just Aber that is affected of course. The Woodland Trust reports that sightings of Spring Flowers are a month later this year than average. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on other species as the year unfolds.

The rest of the walk is unremittingly brown and bare. The dead grass has been flattened by snow and the trees are bare with no buds showing yet. The only hint of better times to come was the change in wind direction. After weeks of bitter easterlies it has begun to turn and was coming from the north west again and blowing the waves into Net Bay.

The quality of light has changed however and with nights and days being of almost equal length as the equinox approaches, spirits are lifted.

A Blog from the Bog

The village website (www.gartocharn.org) has been full of photos showing the snow-covered mountains and frosted trees and plants. Although the cold weather is back again with the easterlys blowing into the front door there have been a couple of days of relative thaw. The ground has not been quite as hard and after the snow the fields have been wet and boggy on top but still quite firm beneath which has made for easier walking to parts of the reserve I don't usually reach.

On the walk through Shore Wood to Net Bay there was a sudden whoosh and roar that preceded the raucous honking as a flock of

Canada and Greylag geese were disturbed on Lime Hill Field and all took to flight together. This is a favourite feeding ground for geese and there must have been two or three hundred in the cloud that flew over my head towards Ring Point at the mouth of the Endrick. We went on to Net Bay and observed how low the loch is still. Even after the snow the level hasn't risen much but that is probably dependent on the thaw that has yet to come.

After disturbing a heron, Rosie discovered she could walk on water. There was still thick ice at the base of the channels but these had thawed on top and then refrozen with a thin layer of ice on the surface. This meant that she could run and slide across the surface which she did very excitedly. It is going to be a long time until the ice fully disperses where it is so thick and hard.

We looked out for otters as there was evidence from the spraints (droppings) that we found that this was part of their territory. I guess that the ice will have forced them into the Endrick and the loch to search for food.

Although the signs of Spring are very hard to find, (the poor snowdrops that were delayed by the thick January snow get knocked back every night with the hard frosts but revive when bathed in what little sunshine there is) the last couple of days have felt spring like and it's hard to figure out why. Everything in the wood is grey and brown, the bracken flattened and no signs of green shoots yet. However, the quality of light seems somehow different which lifts the spirits and makes me feel that it will not be long until the telltale signs appear. All we need is a few warm days.