Sunday, January 15, 2023

After a nearly birdless walk (one raven as we returned to the car) along Loch Glascarnoch we drove down to the car park by the Black Water. The dam is still releasing water, so the river was very dramatic. I went out onto the old bridge and scanned the tops of distant conifers in what is usually a vain search for crossbills - but today there was one! Got to have a pic, as it was first of the year.


Although not red, it could be a male; lower in the tree a grey/green female was feeding, so he might have been keeping watch.

Heading back towards home, Greger spotted the gritting truck ahead and decided to pull into the wind-farm road for a while so he wouldn't have to drive close behind it. He started to read the newspaper while I half-heartedly birdwatched from the car, but the sporadic sleety showers suddenly turned into real snow - and it was settling, fast. I suggested we get going. We made our way across the high moors - unable to see the surrounding hills covered in snow, which had been so pretty on the drive out. Just past Braemore Junction the road steepens and continues to descend for some time. The long ascent - in reverse.


An articulated lorry seemed to be coming uphill towards us very slowly - but as we drew nearer it was obvious that it was stuck. 
 

We were in the Tesla, which in summer tyres doesn't cope as well as the Toyota; and now and then I felt the car slide sideways a little; but Greger was quite relaxed about it all.  Lower down as the gradient eased, we encountered a second big truck heading south; it was moving extremely slowly and must have just had a bit of a skid, because a long dark scar was gouged into the snowy verge behind it.

At loch level, the trees were no longer white, and back in the village there was a wet feeling to the snow that had fallen while we'd been away. It had been an unexpectedly exciting drive home!

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