Wednesday 16th December

I'm enjoying this time more than usual but it's still a bit depressing to see how little decent daylight we are getting - a maximum of around four hours here. No wonder primitive man thought the world was coming to an end.

Went out for an experimental walk yesterday in the area of Barwhillanty Forest and Loch Roan, experimental in the sense I had no idea how attractive the area would be in any respect. Initial impressions in terms of wildlife would have confirmed the notion that the world is coming to an end as nothing was around for the first 45 minutes at all.  In terms of scenery, it was however an extremely attractive stretch of mixed wood and moorland and profoundly still.  I would imagine it to be a beautiful area in the summer and the numerous ponds would probably mean lots of dragonfly and insect activity.

Loch Roan

After nearly an hour I did manage to see a couple of pairs of bullfinches - or possibly the same pair twice about half a mile apart.  They seemed almost to be unwisely limbering up for the mating season, perhaps a reflection of the ongoing mild temperatures that have produced only one frost to date.

Apart from that there were only a few coal tits in the conifers and a couple ofwrens muttering in the undergrowth.

On the way back from Loch Roan (private fishing only) as dusk approached, things did liven up a little.  A reluctant buzzard shuffled around the trees, and half a dozen pipits emerged from the rushes to circle around a bit overhead as if irritated by my presence.  Just I was reflecting that I hadn't seen a single crow or gull all day, a crow wandered lazily across the skyline as the car came into view.  The last bird I saw was a single dunnock.