Speyside is today sweltering in 31degrees - feels more like the Mediterranean!
With a good forecast for the weekend and Monday, why not enjoy a walk on part of the Speyside Way? The section between Craigellachie and Ballindalloch, on easy old railway line, is both scenic and shady. The countryside is showing forty (at least!)shades of fresh green, and a host of spring flowers adorns the Way.
Wkile you are out and about, don't forget to call in past the Speyside Way Visitor Centre in Aberlour - in the old station building - open 7 days a week, 10 am to 5pm.
See you there!
Friday 29 May 2009
Thursday 28 May 2009
Ash before oak?
With summer weather predicted for this weekend and into next week, and a 'barbecue' summer being predicted by the met office, what about the folklore? Does it agree with this prediction?
Does the old saying
"Ash before oak, we’re in for a soak, oak before ash, we'll get by with a splash",
(suggesting that, if the leaves on the ash tree appear first, it will be a wet summer and if the oak comes first, a mainly dry summer) still hold good?
This year it certainly appears that oak leaves are appearing before ash - most of the mature ash trees around here still have their black sooty buds tightly shut while the oaks are bursting into leaf.
There is of course, very conveniently, a contrary version of the old saying in case the first version proves inaccurate!
"If the ash before the oak, choke, choke, choke, (ie choking heat)
If the oak before the ash, splash, splash, splash" (ie a wet summer)
I leave it up to you.........
Does the old saying
"Ash before oak, we’re in for a soak, oak before ash, we'll get by with a splash",
(suggesting that, if the leaves on the ash tree appear first, it will be a wet summer and if the oak comes first, a mainly dry summer) still hold good?
This year it certainly appears that oak leaves are appearing before ash - most of the mature ash trees around here still have their black sooty buds tightly shut while the oaks are bursting into leaf.
There is of course, very conveniently, a contrary version of the old saying in case the first version proves inaccurate!
"If the ash before the oak, choke, choke, choke, (ie choking heat)
If the oak before the ash, splash, splash, splash" (ie a wet summer)
I leave it up to you.........
Wednesday 27 May 2009
Dreich again!
Dreich and wet here again on Speyside today with, I believe, snow on the tops of the Cairngorms. Perhaps it’s the "the snow for the hinds calving" as Willie Elliot in Glencoe used to call a dusting of snow on the tops in late May / early June – can someone remind me of the Gaelic for that expression?
Can I correct a misconception that is going round, perpetrated by a mistake in the Press and Journal on Saturday last?
The Speyside Way extension, recently approved in principle by Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish Environment Minister, is going to Newtonmore not Kingussie as wrongly stated by the P&J. The inter-village rivalry is hot enough on the shinty pitch without a war breaking out over the terminus of the Speyside Way!
Can I correct a misconception that is going round, perpetrated by a mistake in the Press and Journal on Saturday last?
The Speyside Way extension, recently approved in principle by Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish Environment Minister, is going to Newtonmore not Kingussie as wrongly stated by the P&J. The inter-village rivalry is hot enough on the shinty pitch without a war breaking out over the terminus of the Speyside Way!
Tuesday 26 May 2009
Chilly for May!!
The cold showery weather continues. Warm in the sun, cold in the wind and very wet in the showers.
Ranger Chris is out and about with Llinos Davies today learning about watervoles - you know, 'Ratty' from the Wind in the Willows - and finding out how to trap their main predator. The water vole has declined dramatically in the past few decades, decreasing by more than 96% since 1950. This has been primarily due to predation by the invasive predator, the American mink neovison vison.
Speyside Way Rangers will be participating in the conservation programme.
For more information, and to see how you can help too, see http://www.watervolescotland.org/
The cold showery weather continues. Warm in the sun, cold in the wind and very wet in the showers.
Ranger Chris is out and about with Llinos Davies today learning about watervoles - you know, 'Ratty' from the Wind in the Willows - and finding out how to trap their main predator. The water vole has declined dramatically in the past few decades, decreasing by more than 96% since 1950. This has been primarily due to predation by the invasive predator, the American mink neovison vison.
Speyside Way Rangers will be participating in the conservation programme.
For more information, and to see how you can help too, see http://www.watervolescotland.org/
Welcome
Welcome to the Speyside Way blog!
Speyside Way staff will use this blog to try to keep you abreast of what's happening on the Way on a day to day basis - wildlife, maintenance work, weather, route conditions events etc!
We hope you enjoy it - why don't you sign up a s follower?
Jim
Speyside Way staff will use this blog to try to keep you abreast of what's happening on the Way on a day to day basis - wildlife, maintenance work, weather, route conditions events etc!
We hope you enjoy it - why don't you sign up a s follower?
Jim
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