Monday 18 March 2024

A Sunday walk with some favourite companions

Oh it's been ages since we met up with our dear friends M and J. 

Far too long.

In between horrid weather, winter viruses and them swanning off to Munich to visit family, I've been missing my favourite walking companions. And not only 'cos M can be relied on to carry biscuits big enough to satisfy a labrador's appetite in her coat pocket...

We met on Sunday in Maryculter Community Woodland and made our way to the lookout point for elevenses. It was almost warm! 

I helped M and J find a seat, but my offer of further assistance with organising the mid-morning refreshments did not seem to be appreciated.

After posing nicely, once the humans had finished their coffee I carefully checked that no scraps of food had been left behind.

On the way back to the car I jumped in some agreeably muddy puddles. Apparently this is the reason I was not then invited to join M, J and Gail for a post-walk lunch in a nearby restaurant. 

Instead, this was my reward...

I hope my friends all enjoyed nice walks this weekend too. Perhaps without the foot bath bit.

Friday 15 March 2024

Keystone Species in Loch Torridon

Welcome, dear friends, to a Nature Friday special, inspired by the quiz night Gail attended last weekend to raise funds for the Maerl Friends of Loch Torridon.

Can you explain what is meant by a 'keystone species'?

This was one of the quiz questions which Gail was apparently able to answer correctly. When I looked it up I found the following definition:

"A keystone species is an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem. Without its keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether."

I am delighted to report that my close relative the wolf counts as a keystone species, which makes me feel kind of important too. 

I'll admit I was a bit surprised to learn that in Loch Torridon one can find small nodules of frankly unimpressive looking purple algae called 'maerl', and this stuff is also considered to be a keystone species. It's a long way from Canis lupus. The nodules of maerl (pictured below) form carpets known as 'maerl beds', and they are a 'priority marine feature', their presence supporting a diverse assemblage of sea life. Young scallops in particular find these maerl beds a congenial habitat, so I'm told. 
photo from NatureScot website

Well after I heard about this, I hastened down to the shore of the loch at both low tide and high tide, but couldn't spot anything that looked remotely like a carpet of maerl.

Gail laughed and told me I was barking up the wrong tree. A bit insulting as well as an inappropriate metaphor I feel, but it seems the local maerl beds are located some distance away, in a few meters of water near the head of the loch, and I would need diving kit if I wanted to see them in situ

Also, I'm told that the precise location and extent of these precious but vulnerable algal carpets is poorly understood, and this is why the 'Maerl Friends' group has formed and is raising funds to further survey, research and protect Loch Torridon's maerl bed habitat.  

Which I guess is a good thing. 

But no, I'm not offering to go snorkelling or scuba diving... 

Once again a big thank you to our dear friends Rosy and Sunny for hosting our favourite blog hop.


Wednesday 13 March 2024

Feeling at home

If you are a van called 'The Grey' then I can guarantee you'll feel right at home as soon as soon as you arrive on my street in Aberdeen. 


If you are the Grey's owner (whom some of you already know as YAM-aunty), I will invite you into my house and onto my sofa, and soon you will feel quite at home sat beside me.

In return, I might later be taken for a ride in YAM-aunty's magnificent electric vehicle, sitting on the lap of my very impressed human, and both of us will feel right at home in there too.

And of course, as you know, I will always feel right at home if I am taken for a nice walk in the woods at Crathes. (Even if my human fails to capture my look of delight on camera.)

Monday 11 March 2024

THREE prizes!



It was a smart move of Gail's to have us escape the ongoing damp and dreary weather in Aberdeen and make a dash for Torridon, where an east wind has brought fresh and bright conditions these past few days.

It was not such a smart move of Gail's to leave her trusty mascot behind when she attended a quiz night at a restaurant in nearby Diabaig. 

The event was aimed at raising funds for a newly formed marine conservation group, Maerl Friends of Loch Torridon, and many of the quiz questions required knowledge of marine biology.

I'll tell you more about the conservation group later in the week (on Nature Friday), but for now I just want to point out that Gail was NOT on the winning quiz team, and I think we can all guess the reason for the team's lack of success. It was not 'cos they didn't know that an octopus has three hearts.

Here I am, left home alone on Saturday night.

Remarkably though, Gail did come home with THREE prizes, won in the raffle. She says it was one of those raffles that goes on forever as there were more prizes than people present.

So we now have some lovely cards with photos of the Torridon area, a book of poems by local writer Les (who also used to help Gail tend her cottage garden), and some yummy looking honey from Diabaig.


Gail says she might break open the honey when a Very Special Visitor arrives in Aberdeen in her Very Special Vehicle very sooon.

Watch this space!

Friday 8 March 2024

(Not) Playing Ball


So Gail came back LATE from her Thursday bike ride and wondered why I did not leap up to greet her instantly when she stepped inside the house. 

I guess she thinks I have nothing better to do than sit at the front window anxiously awaiting her return. 

Anyway,  I made it quite clear that I had important business to attend to and that just because she wasn't playing ball it didn't mean that I couldn't.

Gail then tried to interest me in her photos of some newborn lambs they'd cycled past in a field on the way to Stonehaven. 

Frankly I wasn't impressed by the photos. I was even less impressed when Gail tried to tell me how I was a lucky boy because her friends had been discussing what they did when they got home after a ride and all the others said the first thing was to either eat, take a shower or clean their bike, whereas Gail claimed she always prioritised taking me out for a walk. 

Oh, to be strictly accurate, they ALL said the VERY first thing was to have a cup of tea.

(I was clearly much mistaken in imagining that these ladies would discuss the state of the world and the meaning of life while pedalling along the Aberdeenshire byways...)

Well I did get my afternoon walk, albeit a short one, in nearby Clochandighter Wood yesterday. My word, the weather is grey and gloomy right now. I bet those little lambkins are yearning to be back inside mummy sheep's womb!

Happy Nature Friday!