#glen derry

[benvironment]

Gawd what a beautiful day! I was working of course, but there's always a stream of maintenance/path checks to do, and where possible it's nice to coincide them with beautiful days like today.

Glen Derry and Glen Lui this morning, and Glen Quoich in the afternoon. It stayed pretty chilly all day with a high of just 2.5C, up from a low this morning of -4.8C 🙂

[tommymacsblog]

Glen Derry, Coire an Lochan Uaine, Derry Cairngorm left of tree. South Cairngorm mountains, with iconic Scot’s Pine (Pinus sylvestris), 4/8/2021.

Internet link:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_sylvestris

[benvironment]

I had the good fortune of having already scheduled a work visit to Glen Derry before the snow was forecast. An added bonus when your office unexpectedly looks like this! 🙂 A good 10cm of snow, although you needed to be up and at 'em first thing in order to get the nice crunchy stuff before the thaw set in.

Very calm morning, with the trees only gradually shedding their loads....via beautiful sugary sprinklings on the walk in, but by the time I was walking out there was a constant 'THUMP' of thick wet snow hitting the ground. And the back of my neck 😆

But on days like this, the Derry perhaps ousts the Quoich as my favourite glen on the estate 🤔 Mostly because it makes for such an exciting scene. Saplings colonising the river, big old pines in the glen, and way off in the distance the slopes of Sgor Mor peppered with young saplings. The extent of the natural regeneration is perhaps most striking when there's enough snow to cover the heather/grass, but not enough to bury the saplings. Really stands out 🙂

[benvironment]

We stumbled upon this gorgeous sight after surveying in Glen Derry. A flush of sundew, always one of the most luridly colourful components of a bog :)

The tiny sundew is one of our carnivorous, meat-eating plants....which given the current midge explosion is VERY welcome indeed ;-) You can read more about them and the other carnivorous plants you'll see in Scotland) in the column I wrote for Walkhighlands​ a few years ago:

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news/discovering-our-insect-eating-plants/0011050/

[benvironment]

This wood ant nest is on the Glen Derry tree transect......and it was there 20yrs ago when the survey was done for the first time. It's been there every survey since, and has prospered despite this massive tree falling on it.

[benvironment]

Yesterday our field of vision was just 1m wide, staring at our feet as we walked VERY slowly along a 1km long line down one side of Glen Derry and up the other, counting and measuring tree saplings. And when you're staring intently at the ground for that long you can't help but see all kinds of wonderful things. Not that I get distracted of course. Dearie me, no ;-)

Ferns unravelling, peculiar and alien-like carnivorous plants (butterwort and sundew), and a stunningly huge northern eggar moth.

[benvironment]

Looking up and down beautiful Glen Derry this afternoon. I fully expected to meet folk during my walk to Derry Dam and back but the glens were oddly quiet this weekend. Is there football on or something??

[benvironment]

I encountered two kinds of amphibians today in Glen Derry, within minutes of one another. Both were on the path but I almost stepped on the poor toad because its camouflage was so effective. I think it might be the first ever green tinged today I've seen, as all the ones I've encountered up till now, in Fife mostly, have been dark or rusty brown.

Beautiful colour on the frog too....and again, I'm not sure I've encountered one so red before. Most frogs I've come face to face with have been green or that yellowy olive colour. Natural world's fascinating innit :)