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 Up Helly Aa It’s been in our heads to visit Shetland for Up Helly Aa for a wee while and this year we managed to do it. Up Helly Aa is a fire festival which celebrates Shetland’s Viking heritage while also being a very good excuse for a lot of alcohol to be consumed and for grown men to dress up and burn a big boat. It is very good fun indeed!
 Start of morning procession through Lerwick  Morning procession through Lerwick  Guizer member of the Jarl Squad  Jarl Squad helmet detail  The Jarl Squad aboard the doomed galley  Member of the Jarl Squad  Jarl Squad Axe  A little Viking  Jarl proclamation Header  Jarl proclamation at Lerwick Market Cross  The doomed ship  Shields adorned the side of the galley  Snake detail  The seemingly neverending procession of guizers on King Harald Street  The burning begins  The flames grow higher  Fireworks greeted the flames  The ship engulfed We had an absolute blast, though we did get a little wet. The ferry back was more than a little choppy as well but it worth it. I will try and post some pictures of the evenings shenanigans when I get a chance too, the squads all visit the halls to perform their ’skit’ before moving on and there were some interesting costumes!
 Daisy We recently expanded our family by 1 with the arrival of a 1 year old West Highland White Terrier named Daisy. She’s an absolute star! Everyone who has met her has fallen in love with her cute wee face. Her favourite pastime seems to be cuddling up with us on the sofa and generally being a bit of a sook.
Expect to see more of Daisy!
 Daisy
 The 'underused' Union Terrace Gardens Ok, I promise to put up new pictures of animals and landscapes soon but this is too important to ignore. On the 11th of January Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future launched their public consultation for the proposed City Square Project in Aberdeen. This project’s aim is to rip out Union Terrace Gardens and fill them in with concrete to create a square larger than Red Square in Moscow.
Please, if you care about Aberdeen then go and read this site: Compare the Square
As you will know, I’m firmly in the pro-Union Terrace Gardens camp and I just cannot see how this project will benefit anyone but the construction companies involved, the people paid to maintain them(i.e remove gum off the slabs and shoo skateboarders away), and whoever benefits from the increased car parking spaces and their income. Where will the money generated from the commercial space go? How much benefit will there be to the economy? Exactly how does a flat grey square enhance the economy of Aberdeen so much that it becomes a world centre for renewable energy? How do they plan to grow mature trees on a car park? Where will the £90 million or more come from?
On the Big Debate with Brian Taylor on BBC Radio Scotland today, Sir Ian Wood failed entirely to tackle any of the points raised, preferring instead to just get a bit huffy after an almost overwhelming response from the studio audience against his vanity plans. Unfortunately 3 out of 4 elected representatives sat firmly on the fence. Brian Adam, Nicol Stephen and Alex Johnstone all said if City Square was good then they were for it but if it was bad then they weren’t. Thanks for clearing that up guys. It was left to Anne Begg, Labour MP for Aberdeen South, to really annoy Sir Ian Wood by declaring that the Peacock Arts proposal makes her heart sing and that the City Square proposal does not. It was stirring stuff and something that will surely become a feature of the coming weeks as more and more people come out against the City Square.
We need more people to come out in support of Union Terrace Gardens. ACSEF supporters call us NIMBYS but really we’re not against progress or development, we’re just against this ridiculous development. The Peacock proposal allows us to keep the wonderful gardens while making them more accessible, brighter and bringing a defined economic benefit to the area. It’s been designed by a world renowned architect, is costed, almost fully funded and has full planning permission. Peacock were ready to sign the lease and break ground when Sir Ian Wood announced his scheme, cynically designed to put the breaks on the Peacock development as that would mean his dream of creating a vast windy square would be dead forever. Peacock have offered compromise but ACSEF have refused to budge, it is they who are restricting the development of Aberdeen by blindly sticking to their ‘vision’ and brief.
It’s ok though, all is not lost. We can take action now to stop this madness. The first thing we need to do is tell them that we are against the City Square project: City Square Consultation
Then we write to our councillors, msp’s and mp’s: Write To Them
And we need to sign the petition: Save the new Contemporary Arts Centre
However, the most important thing we can do is talk about this with friends and colleagues, try and spread the word as much as possible. Write letters to Aberdeen Journals, get in touch with I Heart UTG and see if you can help with their campaign and keep using the gardens.
The gardens are an oasis from the traffic of both cars and people on Union Street, the fact that they are sunken is an asset not a problem waiting to be solved. I’ve spent so much time there over the years, for lunch and just for 5 minutes peace and quiet during a hectic day. Not once have I had any problems there, though I accept that drug users and alcoholics do appear there. The gardens also have some truly excellent victorian toilets which could become a real unique feature but are in one of the darker areas of the gardens, we need to develop these and bring more people into the gardens or we’ll regret it in future years.
Let ACSEF know what you think, if you see them in town stop and chat to them, fill out the consultation and let them know exactly how much the gardens mean to you.
BBC article on it: Here
And they’ve launched a website for it: Here
 Artists impression of the proposed City Square Project I particularly like the snappy slogan that they’ve come up with to go alongside the campaign to pour concrete over the Union Terrace Gardens – This Time. This Place. This Generation. – a gift to internet wags everywhere who have already begun adding their own extra This…
One key feature of the proposed City Square Project (I hope they didn’t pay someone a lot of money to come up with this imaginative name), is the green space they are proposing for the heart of the city. You can quite clearly see some patches of green there, just in the corners of the huge patch of concrete.
Honestly, I know I don’t mix with the great and good of Aberdeen business, but not one single person I’ve spoken to thinks that this is a good idea. We don’t need more shops in the city centre, nor do we need a huge flat concrete space. As I stated in a previous blog, we’d be far better supporting the approved Peacocks Art development and also looking at regenerating the Green and Castlegate areas of the City rather than wasting £140 million on one millionaires ego project.
These are our gardens, not just ACSEF and Sir Ian Woods, we need to make sure they’re still there for people to enjoy for generations to come. Taking a huge green space out of the city centre is short sighted, criminal and pretty damned ridiculous when it costs £90 million pounds of public money at a time when the council is facing a third year of budget cuts running into the millions.
Speak up, write letters to Aberdeen Journals publications: Here and your representatives on the council: Here. Join the I Heart UTG campaign: Here
Most importantly, get out and visit Union Terrace Gardens and encourage your friends to do the same. Start conversations about the gardens, make people think about what they mean to them and get people to realise why we should save them. It’s important to encourage development in Aberdeen but not blindly, and not at the cost of our cherished green spaces. It’s not too late! This Time. This Place. This Generation. This Ends Now.
 I Heart UTG Fraser Denholm has posted an amazing article about the ongoing campaign to save Union Terrace Gardens in Aberdeen city centre. You can read it: Here.
If you would like to sign the petition then you can do so: Here
If you would like to know more about Peacock Visual Arts and the proposed new Contemporary Arts Centre which is also under threat then you can visit: Here
Finally, if you want to get involved in the campaign to save UTG then go: Here and join their facebook group: Here
Personally, I feel very strongly about Union Terrace Gardens. I’ve never bought the spiel that they are underused and the space could be better used for some kind of magical civic square.
When I lived in the centre of town I regularly used the gardens as an oasis away from the bustle of Union Street, if only to walk through them on my way home or even just to eat a sandwich at lunchtime. I was never alone. If anyone under-uses this magnificent space then it is Aberdeen City Council, who seem to have forgotten that they have a city centre space to be proud of and capable of hosting events and celebrations. We all fondly remember the millennium Ice Rink and numerous summer concerts in the gardens.
No one is saying that the gardens are perfect, far from it, but concreting over them and building more shops is not the answer. The Arts centre would breathe live into a wonderful green space and be there for everyone to enjoy. Far from merely being of interest to the ‘Artsy Fartsy’ portion of the city, a cultural heart, just down the road from HMT, would provide stimulus for the entire region. We just have to look at Dundee Contemporary Arts for proof of this.
I’ve sat in Union Terrace for hours watching Peregrine Falcons, magnificent displays of Starlings(sure to end if we put a roof over their roost), Robins, Sparrows, loads of other wonderful small birds and of course the gulls and pigeons, all enjoying this wonderful natural space that we’ve been so proud of for years and years. I learned photography in Union Terrace Gardens. They are our gardens, not Sir Ian Woods.
Let’s see the council show some imagination, say no to the big name and yes to the people. A revitalised Union Terrace Gardens with a Contemporary Arts Centre is what we want, not concrete, shops and a car park.
 Crathes Castle on a cold Autumn day  Autumn trees at Crathes  Crathes Castle  Crathes Pond  Crathes Autumn tree Yesterday I took the bus to Crathes Castle and had a lovely day traipsing round the woods searching for Red Squirrel. I had a plan too. I knew they regularly appeared at the feeder behind the shops, so I took a wee seat and was ready to camp there for a few hours. It’s a shame no one told the staff who hadn’t put any food out that day, I had foolishly not taken any with me.
I enquired within the shop if they had any seed for sale and they very kindly gave me a wee bag of their own seed, so I put into action plan number two. I had found a great picturesque stone, covered in moss and in a ray of sunlight. My plan was to put some seed on the stone then sit and wait for birds or squirrels to start feeding, it was a good plan. Sadly my plan did not take into account the mother and toddler group who were collecting pine cones and twigs, while making as much noise as twenty toddlers are in the habit of making. Oh well.
So, a little disheartened but still enjoying the day I decided to get some landscape shots of the Castle. At least it won’t hide from me. While working away at the end of the lawn some movement caught my attention in the corner of my eye. I whirled round to see a Red Squirrel skipping past some trees on the other side of the path. It had obviously waited till I had switched lenses, attached some filters and been in full landscape mode before coming out for some food, the wee red swine. As quickly as I could, I switched lenses and tried to circle around the back of where the squirrel had headed. Taking care not to make any loud noises, I crept round the trunks of some large trees and caught a glimpse of the Red foraging at the foot of a beech tree. Just a little closer. I went round another trunk, surely it’s just through this bush. Nothing. It obviously heard me coming and scarpered. My eyes scanned the branches for movement but this Red was obviously better at hiding than I was.
Returning to my gear, I packed up and followed the path back to the bus stop. At least I know there are definitely Red’s in the woods at Crathes and there’ll always be another day.
 Sycamore seeds waiting to drop
 Golden Sycamore leaves  Bzzz  Unidentified orange fly  Coal Tit stashing seeds  Sunset over Mt Keen and Clachnaben I had a half day at work today so I thought I’d spend the afternoon in the garden, trying to get some pictures that summed up autumn. This was inspired by the absolute hive of activity that is the ivy growing on the sheds. There was hundreds, if not thousands of flys, bees and wasps busying themselves with collecting nectar from the very smelly flowers today.
I then decided to have a wander round the garden and get a few other shots. The Sycamore tree was an obvious focus, the golden yellow leaves really the image of autumn for many people and I felt it was important to try and get a picture involving the helicopter seeds which amused me so much as a child.
After cleaning out my bird feeder I had a non-stop procession of Coal Tits snatching up all the seed, I swear they take enough to feed a whole army of them but it seems to be the same two coming back every time.
Finally, the sun started to set and I was treated to a spectacular red sunset over Mt Keen(3081 ft), the farthest east of the Munros and Clachnaben.
 Todhead Lighthouse viewed from Catterline harbour  Grey Seal  Grey Seal pup trying to get out of rough water  Grey Seals basking at Catterline  Todhead Lighthouse viewed from Catterline harbour So, we’d been meaning to get to Catterline for a few weeks as it was nearing the tail end of the Seal pupping season and I wanted to get some shots of the small Seal colony there. For various reasons we kept postponing the trip, but we finally made it on Sunday and had a lovely couple of hours with the Seals.
We were very careful about approaching the spot where we would get our best look at the Seals, crouching low and making considered, slow movements. We needn’t have bothered, the Seals were as curious about us as we were about them and we soon had 7 grey heads bobbing around in the water staring at us.
The title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year has gone to Jose Luis Rodriguez for a stunning shot of an Iberian Wolf leaping a farm gate in the dead of night. Jose created his own camera trap using a Hasselblad 503CW to capture the rare Spanish wolf which is traditionally very shy of human activity.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Click the link above to see the winning photo and the category winners.
Other photographers honoured in the prestigious competition, run by BBC Wildlife magazine and the Natural History Museum, were 17 year old Fergus Gill for an energetic shot of two Yellowhammers bickering over oats and Urmas Tartes for a fantastical micro view of Springtail traversing a snow flake.
All the best photos from the competition are on show now at the Natural History Museum in London and will be well worth a visit
 Bee at Fuscia Well, I guess that’s that. It’s finally over. We had a good run at it but in the end we never really got going, perhaps next year eh?
It was dark by the time I got home from work today, too dark to do anything. It was pretty damn cold today too. I almost had to put gloves on. So, I guess we can say Summer is officially over now and we’re fully in the chilly grip of Autumn as it squeezes into Winter. The long, dark, cold, wet, soggy season…winter. *sigh*
Wait! All is not lost! Autumn’s pretty cool right? The leaves turn awesome and there’s some truly ace things to see, like huge flocks of Starlings performing displays on Union Bridge in Aberdeen and thousands of Geese at Loch of Strathbeg. It’s seal pupping season right now so if you go to Bridge of Don reserve you might see some cute fluffy seals between there and Balmedie, also at Catterline just south of Stonehaven. With the leaves gone it’ll be easier to spot the birds too, we might even see some Red Squirrels and Pine Martins if we look long and close enough.
And I guess Winter isn’t so bad either, right? Snow’s kind of cool, even if it doesn’t have the same fun factor as when we were kids. You can still build Snowmen, go sledging and have a snowball fight. It just has to be on weekends.
What else is good in Winter? The late sunrise means taking photos in the magic hour on the east coast is easier, if a little chilly. The hills are more dramatic. Christmas! Christmas is fun and a great time for photos. Then there’s Hogmany! Aside from drinking there’s lots to see, not least at Stonehaven for the fireballs. And we’re into a whole new year, filled with opportunity! First up is Up Helly A in Shetland, we’re going and it’s going to be amazing! I’ve never been to Shetland and I’m determined to make the most of our two days in Lerwick, expect lots of photos.
Then, as sure as it got dark, it starts to get light. Slowly but surely we get our days back. It gets a little warmer and the bluebells and daffodills appear, bees and wasps emerge and we catch our first sight of a Swallow. Spring.
It’s quite exciting really. So, goodbye bees. We’ll see you in a few months but I think we’ll get on without you for a bit.
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