Evening tour

Cross country skiing in Scotland is often marginal with thin, icy or sticky snow the norm in recent years - not this season though!  Large amounts of snow have built up on most of the high ground in Aberdeenshire, the latest dump courtesy of Storm Christoph added some 40cms.  It's not been necessary to travel in order to find good ski conditions; the forest just a couple of kilometres up the road from home has continued to give terrific skiing.  A brilliant winter day was settling into early evening when I clipped into skis and set out for an evening tour.

The forest tracks have been popular with skiers and families sledging over this weekend but by setting out as everybody else was heading home I had the entire forest to myself - and what a beautiful evening it was to be out.  The temperature was already below freezing and whilst in the forest I was sheltered from the keen north westerly wind - perfect conditions really.

A few kilometres up the forest track a small firebreak path slants off uphill which is my normal route to this end of the Correen Hills.  It's been many years since I've seen so much snow locally - in places it's lying a metre deep.

It was already well after sunset when I broke out of the forest and onto the open hill above.  The snow here was lying deep and unbroken and I'd expected it to be unconsolidated powder as it had been a week previously so it was a pleasant surprise to find that a wind crust had formed which was strong enough to support the skis as I pushed uphill.

The cairn at Peter's Prop is a great viewpoint and was the target for this evening tour.  The wind up here was both strong and bitterly cold as it blew across the snowfields.  I'd missed sunset but was treated to the afterglow and a lovely quality of light.  This was no place to be lingering this evening though, my fingers were "nipping" from just a few moments exposure while I changed settings on the camera.  I clipped back into the skis and headed back down using an energetic kick-and-glide to regain some warmth.

By the time I got back to the main forest track the dusk was deepening and a bright half moon was climbing higher.  Down here there was no wind and the only sounds were the swish of ski and my breath as I strode out.

 The snow immediately in front of me quickly lost definition as darkness fell so although the light levels were quite good I needed a headtorch to ski safely.  The torch beam picked out the diamond glitter of the snow and made for a really atmospheric run.  Taking a different route back offered a swooping downhill section of a full kilometre which my GPS watch told me had been covered in a shade under six minutes giving my speed on that section as 10km/h.  There was a price to pay in a climb back to the car, but well worth it for the fun.  

I arrived back at the car some two hours after dark with the temperature at -7 degrees Celsius having enjoyed a great evening tour of just over 10km/6 miles - on some of the best snow I've skied.

Night walking

A catch-up post from November 2020, on an evening with a really bright full moon.  I set out from home well after sunset with the full moon up above the farmland of Aberdeenshire and the forecast of a clear night to come.  The plan was to take a night walk around the Correen Hills by night.  I expected to be using a head torch for much of the way, but in fact the torch stayed in my pocket the entire four hours I was out, so bright was the moonlight.

High on the ridge, three hours into my walk and four hours after sunset.  To the right of this image, the snow covered mass of Ben Avon, one of the Cairngorm giants, was clearly visible 50km away - the air was gin-clear and the moon was arclight bright; just a beautiful night to be out on the hill.

 From the summit of Lord Arthur's Hill, the village of Alford lay in a haze of frost and woodsmoke.  to the extreme left of this image are the distant lights of the city of Aberdeen - another world.  The top of the image shows a satellite pass in the long exposure - purely by chance.  

I'd forgotten how pleasurable walking by night can be. If you don't embrace at least starting and finishing walks and other activities in the dark during Scotland's winter months, it can be very limiting.  But deliberately setting out for a night walk is something I'd fallen out of the habit of doing, and I intend to do more of this in 2021.

If you want moonlight, the formula is fairly simple, given clear or reasonably clear skies:

Full Moon - rises near sunset, sets near sunrise - bright

3rd quarter (7d after full) - rises very late evening - reasonably bright

New moon (14d after full) - rises near sunrise, sets near sunset, dark skies

1st quarter (7d before full)- sets very late evening - reasonably bright

One good thing - 7th May 2020

Wednesday 6th May was a glorious day of Spring weather with an equally lovely evening.  Having spent the majority of the day indoors working from home, I decided to spend the evening outdoors and to camp in the garden - another "micro micro-adventure".  Having sat by a fire-pit until quite late in the evening I was preparing to get into the tent when I noticed a pink glow in the eastern sky.

Above the Aberdeenshire farmland a brilliant full moon rose through a pink and purple glow....there was an absolutely gorgeous quality of light.

I slept with both inner and outer tent doors open and was woken at 0430 by a full dawn chorus of birdsong with a Cuckoo leading the way well before daylight.  I was slightly surprised to note more frost than forecast, but it lifted as soon as the sun rose.  The advantage of being so close (20 metres!) to home was that it took very little time to get up, shower and be at my desk working, refreshed by a night in the outdoors.

One good thing - 8th April 2020

The full moon of  the night of 7th-8th April was termed a "pink super moon".  The super moon part is because the moon is within 90% of perigee - the closest approach to earth of its orbital path- and therefore the full moon would appear to be larger and brighter than the average full moon. In fact the moon is 40,000km closer to the earth than at average orbit, and this was the closest "super moon" of 2020.

The "pink" term refers not to the colour of the moon but is a name given by native American peoples to the April full moon, which occurs at the same time as the flowers of Moss Pink (Phlox subulata) bloom on the plains of central and eastern North America.

Over Aberdeenshire high cloud built during the evening but there were some nice views as the brilliance of the moon created a rainbow corona as it shone through.

2020 will also see a "blue moon" on 31st October when there will be two full moons in the month (and so 13 full moons in a calendar year) - an event uncommon enough to be "once in a blue moon".

One good thing - 6th April 2020

The best thing about today has been the variety and quality of light throughout the day and into the evening......

Early morning saw showers and stroboscopic lighting effects in the wake of a cold front which passed over northeast Scotland overnight.  Clouds racing overhead alternately lit the view with dazzling, intense colours, then switched off the light to leave a muted version of the same scene.

After a mainly bright and breezy day the wind dropped towards evening and a slow-burn sunset underlit a cloudbank with gold and bronze.

Tonight's full moon was high in the sky before sunset, adding pale light to the most delicate of pink shades in the air.

While back to the west the cloudbank dissipated in the cooling air as if it had never existed, leaving just a hint of the sunset projected into the sky.

As I type this post a full hour after sunset, the same piece of sky is a colour somewhere between jade green and lemon; gorgeous but beyond the camera to capture.  The light (in Gaelic "solas") has absolutely been one good thing about today.

One good thing - 27th March 2020

There was really no doubt about the highlight of this day......

As the evening drew in, we sat out in the garden to watch the light fade.  A Blackbird tried out his song phrases, clear toned and carrying in the clear, cold air.  After a run of overcast days the sky cleared to give the most marvelous view of a bright new moon with the brilliance of Venus directly above.

As the local dialect has it, this was "the aald moon in the arms of the new 'een"....absolutely beautiful.

October colours

All of a sudden it seems, the golden colours of autumn have come alive in Aberdeenshire.  On a walk above Glen Derry, the trees of the Doire Bhraghad (broad wood) have gained a palette of rich browns and glowing gold among the bottle green of the pines.  There's a long view north from here to the heart of the Cairngorms - the giants of Derry Cairngorm and Ben Macdui showed up well in the clear air.

The purple of late summer heather has faded to a purple-brown as the flowers dry out in the wind; it's not as bright as the swathes of stunning purple brilliance but has its own subtle beauty. As with many places in the east of the country, the hills have a plaid of dark green pines across their lower slopes....always the pinewoods as a setting.

A set of prints in the mud of a forest track - smaller than a fox, larger than a stoat or weasel? - ah, of course.... Red Squirrel, that bright spark of energy among the trees.

The pace had slowed; this was no day to be charging around the hill.  To stop and absorb the colours, the shifting light and the shimmer of golden birch leaves in the breeze seemed the way to get the best of the day.

At times the colours were breathtaking.  Just after taking this image, two Ravens powered into the sky from a big pine, flying straight and true with deep "krokk" calls.  We weren't the source of their alarm, so we followed their flight and, as suspected, a Golden Eagle slipped down the breeze overhead.  The Ravens started to mob it, but soon backed off when the eagle banked sharply and lashed out with its talons before casually resuming its glide towards the valley of the Dee, all rich brown against the blue.

On the short drive home we stopped of in Crathie to visit a new enterprise.  We've been regular customers of the Highlanders Bakehouse who sell superb breads at local farmers markets in Aberdeenshire.  The new enterprise is a cafe and shop, a big step for a young couple who have put everything into getting it up and running.  We can report that the food is superb, fresh, local and wholesome, if you travel on the A93 on Deeside, don't miss it!

It had been a beautiful autumn day, but there was one last treat.........

.....when the huge "hunter's moon" (the full moon after the September equinox harvest moon) rose over the fields of home - a fitting golden end to a golden October day.

A cinematic event at Shoe Bay

From our camp at "Shoe Bay" Douglas and Tony climbed a nearby rocky hill to watch the evening's cinematic entertainment.

The show began as the spotlight came up behind us......

...and cast a lovely pale light over Loch Moidart.  Beyond the loch, Beinn Resipol seemed almost translucent in the evening light.  But the rise of the full moon was just the curtain-raiser - the main event was underway in the opposite direction.

...as a smoky sunset coloured up the western sky.  As it set beyond the low outline of Muck, we speculated as to whether the sky would develop into technicolour shades or not.

A little further along the horizon, the silhouette of Eigg sailed the western sea - it's always reminded me of the outline of a ship.  Eigg and Muck have given such superb days, whether on the sea or on foot - they really do feel like old friends I'm privileged to have an acquaintance with.

There would be no technicolour blaze across the horizon on this evening, but we weren't complaining....every sunset is subtly different and this one was a slow, smouldering affair.

Below the rocky perch I'd chosen, the sand of Shoe Bay turned ghostly pale in the evening light and the colour of our boats seemed to really glow.

We created our own blaze and glow as the evening progressed....sitting around our fire and reflecting on just how fortunate we are to be able to experience evenings such as this in special places like these.

Pale beauty

It's been a weekend of pale beauty here in the northeast of Scotland.  Driving towards Banchory we were in atmospheric mist with shafts of sunlight streaming through the trees - and I hadn't brought a camera!  We stopped on the road which drops from Queen's View towards Coull where there's a wide sweep of the Dee valley below.  A photo on a mobile phone gives an impression of the almost ghostly quality of light.  Beyond the Dee the easternmost of the Munros, Mount Keen, was prominent as a dome of brilliant white against the pale blue of the winter sky.

On Sunday evening I took a walk around the local area and was returning home as the moon rose above the farmland.  Initially a shade of golden yellow, it rapidly became a disc of pale beauty as it cleared the frost haze; the temperature plummeted below freezing and continued down to minus 6 Celsius.  This full moon was a bit of a special one too....

I was up and about before 5am in order to catch a flight for work - but also to try and catch something of the lunar eclipse which reached totality at 0512.  Given the catchy title of a "super blood wolf moon" because the moon was at perigee (closest to earth and so appearing 7% larger than normal), the blood term from the expected reddish colour and "wolf moon" is a name for a January full moon.

The eclipse was so total that the moon appeared for a while as a dark disc - and my camera simply wouldn't focus on it; the image is included here to show the extraordinary colour.  The difference between the conditions during this eclipse and the very special solstice lunar eclipse in December 2010 was amazing - the ambient light from the snow covered landscape on that occasion must have made quite a difference. 

In any case, my images this time mostly showed nothing but a blur of reddish-brown at totality.  What I actually observed was a disc of deep brown with a reddish edge all round - it was incredibly beautiful.

Gradually the terminator (I love some of the astronomical terms!) crept down and allowed pale light to flood around a portion of the moon, just as a haze of cloud arrived and softened the light.

A post of rather dodgy photos, but hopefully conveying something of the pale beauty of this winter weekend.

Winterlight

Despite the heavy snow and fierce cold of recent weeks, the season is beginning to turn towards Spring.  Winter is often thought of as a dark time with little in the way of colour; but there have been occasional moments of real beauty - as in every winter.

The dazzling, sparkling purity of snow covered hills against a cloudless blue sky is probably the best example of this and there's been more snow than in recent years too, a "proper" winter.  On this day above Deeside we could see for many miles through the clearest of air.

Earlier in the season when there wasn't so much snow but plenty of frost. There was contrast between shaded forest which held a frost haze most of the day, and the warmer colours brought to life by sunlight on the slopes of Lochnagar.  The scene in the mountain's great corrie was altogether more monochrome though.

The winter saw a series of "supermoon" events where the full moon was bigger and brighter than usual due to its proximity to the earth.  The pale blaze of this moonset at home was a beautiful sight, and prompted me to get out and experience the arclight brilliance of this rare event.

One of the features of the winter landscape is the blonde shades of the fields, grasses and barley stubbles bleached by the frost and wind.  Lit by low sunlight, these apparently lifeless fields take on a remarkable shade.

Back among the hills, as a freezing night gave way to a sunny day with a fierce north westerly wind. With a combination of frost haze in the glens and searing morning sunlight plus suspended dust from the wind, the view across the Dee valley towards Mount Keen was one of silhouettes softened into shades of light and shadow, the sky almost devoid of colour.  Processing this image in black and white made it actually more true to the view I experienced.

Days are short in the north of Scotland through the midwinter, the sun remains low for the six or so hours it's above the horizon.  The low angle means that sunrise and sunset can seem quite long, and the delicate lighting of dawn in particular can be quite beautiful.

Even when the cloud is down and there's apparently little definition, the play of shifting light can be quite magical.  We sat on the moors above Glen Gairn and watched as cloud and sun performed a "dance of the veils" - alternately hiding and revealing the hills and moorland slopes.  The eye was drawn to the geometric shapes of field boundaries in the foreground as a point of reference, but all around us light shifted and changed.

Spring is on the way bringing a riot of bright colours, but winter isn't so dark and monotone after all.....

A "once in a blue moon" night

Lunacy - intermittent insanity, formerly believed to be related to phases of the moon. 
 

The night of 31st January saw a "supermoon", the third in a series of full moon events where the moon would be at a comparatively close distance from the earth. It was also a "blue moon" - the second full moon in a calendar month, which as the saying goes, doesn't come around that often.  Predicted to appear 7% larger and be 15% brighter than an average full moon, it seemed like a good idea to try and experience it to best advantage.

We are fortunate in having very little light pollution at home, so it there might be a good view, but how about getting up into the hills to see the effect amongst winter mountains?

I set out from Crathie on Deeside at sunset, aiming to spend a night out and get the best possible view.








Emerging form the forest onto the open hill well after sunset, I thought that maybe I'd made a mistake.  A snowstorm came sweeping in from the north west and made for some fairly brisk conditions on the walk in.

My destination for the night was Gelder Shiel bothy on the Balmoral estate.  I'd noted fresh bootprints on the track and so was expecting to find somebody else in residence, and so it proved.  Mike and his dog "Sheba" had arrived just before dark and had the stove lit and the place nice and warm.

I've used Gelder Shiel several times; my abiding memories are of a very cold stone building, but a recent renovation by the MBA and the "Ballater Chiels" has transformed it into one of the best of bothies, cosy and warm.  Once settled into the bothy, I took a look outside....

...where the cloud had broken up and the full moon was sailing high in a ragged sky, almost stroboscopic as the cloud alternately obscured and cleared.

In the small wood surrounding the bothy the effect was all light and shade, a zebra pattern on the fresh snow.

Mike and I took a walk up the track above the bothy.  When the cloud cleared, the light levels were truly astounding, our shadows sharply delineated.

All the images in this post were taken on a compact camera with the flash switched out, the light levels really were as portrayed.  Behind Mike and Sheba is Lochnagar, the cliffs floodlit with brilliant light.

Moonlight is often described as "silver", but this went beyond that - it was arc-light bright.  Every feature in the landscape was picked out sharp and clear - an utterly brilliant night to be out.

The contrast between moonlight and shade was as marked as that between sunlight and shadow.

Bright it may have been, but it was also searingly cold in a strong northerly wind.  We three returned to the bothy and banked up the wood-burner.

I took a walk out just before getting into the sleeping bag, there was a corona around the moon formed by ice crystals in the lower atmosphere.

As the moon moved across the sky it shone through the skylights in the bothy.  A brief turn out in the small hours to answer a call of nature had me diving back for the camera - the bothy washed by light.

I had to leave early to be home and do a day's work.  All night the wind had roared around the building, making some weird noises as the gusts built.  I headed out into what would normally have been pitch blackness, but on this morning was still lit by a super supermoon.  Truly this had been a "once in a blue moon night".

By the time I reached home just after dawn, the day had turned very nasty - a northerly gale and stinging showers rattled in as February roared in.  But what a great night it had been.....