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#1 352/365
1 streak
#143
Day 143
The Newburgh branch line
We regret to announce that the five fifteen, from Ellon to Newburgh via Foveran Mill, is delayed at Foveran; indefinitely! Th...
#144
Day 144
This way to the seals.
If you go down to the woods today, You're sure of a big surprise.- you won't see any seals! Over the last few years a large hau...
#151
Day 151
The worm's eye view
"From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity." Edvard Munch. Norwegian artist. 1863-1944 This i...
#158
Day 158
Pine cones, apples and pineapples
In Late Middle English pineapple denoted a pine cone. For example in the 13th century De Proprietatibus Rerum by Bar...
#157
Day 157
No Gift on earth Pure Water can excel
Today, the national celebrations have started to mark our Queen's official 90th birthday, which is tomorrow. Thi...
#156
Day 156
Fox and cubs
This is an uprooted plant called Pilosella aurantiaca. Commonly known as fox-and-cubs, orange hawkweed, tawny hawkweed, devil's paintbrus...
#155
Day 155
The $2000 dollar question
When I last studied genetics, quite a few moons ago now, it all seemed quite straightforward, with Gregor Mendel growing wri...
#153
Day 153
The leaning monument of Foveran
This monument in the Foveran graveyard is looking very precarious, to my mind dangerously so. Many older monuments, of...
#161
Day 161
A good father
Our resident blackbird is an exemplary father, spending every minute of daylight collecting food for his demanding family in the nest. B...
#163
Day 163
The dead and the cross
In pre-reformation Scotland the graves of the important might be marked with a large and elaborately carved Celtic cross. Follo...
#164
Day 164
An Inuit carving of a walrus.
'The time has come,' the walrus said, 'to talk of many things: of shoes and ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages and ki...
#165
Day 165
Strutting your stuff.
I always enjoy a visit to our local plant centre , not least because it boasts a fine collection of domestic fowl. #afternoon #s...
#167
Day 167
In the temple
Today I present you with a persimmon sitting on a rather special Fijian wooden dish, known as a daveniyaqona vakaga. The Wesleyan missio...
#166
Day 166
Earlier today
We were very late to bed last night and I took today's photograph in the very early hours. This was the view to the north with a gatheri...
#170
Day 170
Our resident pollster
We have the grandchildren in residence today as their school is shut, it being a polling station. Our younger granddaughter has...
#169
Day 169
Arches, keystones and star fish.
I learned today of the death of an eminent ecologist; Robert Treat Paine III, April 13, 1933 – June 13, 2016 What fol...
#171
Day 171
A dark, dark day.
Just before 6 o'clock this morning I was awoken by a loud roll of thunder and rain of biblical proportions. I switched on the televi...
#172
Day 172
A tale of goats and musicians
This afternoon I was rooting through a drawer full of "stuff" in search of a WW1 trench map. I failed to find the map bu...
#173
Day 173
Newburgh, London.
A lovely day at Haddo house. This was the view along the central drive, reputed to be one Scots mile (1,973 and a third yards) in le...
#174
Day 174
The Somme
The Somme A hundred years ago tomorrow the battle of the Somme began on the Western Front. By the time that it ended, four and a half months...
#176
Day 176
Old Dyce War Cemetery
The Old Dyce Commonwealth war cemetery lies in the grounds of the tranquil and ancient Church of St Fergus, overlooking the Rive...
#179
Day 179
“The blood is the life!” ― Bram Stoker. Dracula
This evening we visited Slains Castle, the cliff-top ruin that inspired Bram Stoker to write the novel...
#182
Day 182
The Great British Divide
Down in the City of London the young herring gulls will doubtless be feasting on the fine remnants of Michelin-starred expens...
#180
Day 180
Castle Dracula
".... Suddenly I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined...