A hill recce, a sunset, a moon and a stroll. June 2013

I meant to post some of these pictures last week, but the good weather's had me outside.

It's raining today.

The first set of pictures were taken during a recce I did with the 'Teacher' and 'Spike' up to Cairnsmore (also called Blackcraig) of  Dee.

We started the walk at the car park opposite Clatteringshaws dam on the Black Water of Dee.

The above picture is part of the 'Art in the Forest' project and is called the Labyrinth.

Forest road for the first couple of kilometres. 

Scotland's beef and dairy farmers are very meticulous about health and hygiene rules and young calves aren't long in getting ear tags.

  

Reaching Laggan O' Dee we came upon these deer.

The herd's stag had a wary eye on us.

It's a tough climb up Blackcraig of Dee, but there's plenty interesting stuff growing. This is Butterwort.

Fir Clubmoss ? and Cotton Grass

Can't remember what this is.

Cairnsmore of Dee summit.

A long zoom to Earlstoun Loch.

From the top of Cairnsmore of Dee we descended down to the Nick of Benniguinea before climbing to the mast on the hill of the same name.

Nest building ? It doesn't look like a worm.

A well deserved lunch break.

View to Craignell

Clatteringshaws dam.

The descent to the car park via the drystone wall from the summit of Benniguinea is best to be avoided. My previous climb down here was when the ground was frozen. Tussocks, bogs, deep holes and channels were plentiful. We'll come down by road and forest track on walk day. 

End of recce pictures

A couple of days after the summer solstice I took this from my back garden......................

.................the next night, the moon, at 10.50 pm.

Wednesday the 26th June

A walk up to Glenamour Loch.

After the extended winter it's amazing how summer has caught up...........the grass is high.

Rhododendron blooms are almost past their best

The lily pads are ripe

Damsel flies are everywhere

I can't seem to get a really sharp close up

But of course I have a lens problem

I changed settings and somehow managed to take the picture below of the scratch on my outer lens.

I did have a go at buffing this scratch out but after a short while I noticed I was taking a tinted coat off, so that wont work. Just had a reply from the camera workshop that Canon will only supply the complete optical unit. £160 plus VAT comes to £192. Guess who's on the lookout for a new camera.

I'm still getting good pictures when I zoom through and beyond the scratch. 

It's a great day for taking photographs

This was the closest I could get to this dragonfly without falling in the loch

There are lots of Water Lilies

A close up shows they all have some small creature busily collecting the pollen or resting

Glenamour Loch is a most peaceful place on a warm summer's day