To the trees

Not much in the way of excitement of late I'm afraid. Most of the snow is gone, so I'm not too worried about getting into the hills for now.

However, its been an absolutely beautiful week up here. In fact, I'm beginning to forget what clouds look like. A hard frost has coated everything white since the weekend, complemented by watery blue skies and incredable sunsets.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be doing some woodland surveys over on Loch Sunart, near Strontian, crunching through frosted leaves and brushing ice crystals from skeletal heather stems. Not only was it another peach of a day, but its part of an area of incredably old, biologically rich oakwoods and for little old me, fresh out of school, to be the one that gets to stroll round them for a living is quite the privelage. Here are some snaps of yesterdays trees:

South to Loch Sunart and Morvern beyond

December light filters through the naked trees

Last week I ventured across the Fort William end of Loch Lihnne and was surveying in Stronchreggan, a glen I look into from my bathroom window. The view back towards my bathroom window is a stonker:

Benjamin Nevis and my house.

Last night I decided to play with some video I had lying around on my computer and came up with the wee clip below. In the past I have mentioned working on the Isle of Canna last Autumn. I was volunteering on a rat eradication project for 6 weeks, and on my days off (when the weather smiled) I went out and scoured the island for rock that wasn't falling down. The only success I had was on Coroghan beach, where the waves have got rid of the worst of the choss. Over a few weeks I did quite a few wee boulder problems, but the best was this one, Pied Piper (rat catching, see?). It's on this weired boulder shaped like a christmas tree, which looks out to Skye and the Cuillin. Happy days.