Heya Tracey,

Was really cool to finally bump into you, hope your pc/laptop related problem are solved quickly and you can once again get online more frequently :)

Happy New Year Tracey, hope you had a great Xmas too :)

Dougie is a lovely man isn't he, he never loses his cool when things get busy in the coffee shop. That's brilliant that you can get a lift in with him, Vix said that she and Dougie car share now. It's a brilliant idea, saves them both bringing in their cars when they don't have to.

Wish I'd seen the Snow buntings (never see one) and the Filedfares, Kevin you are so lucky!:) Oh, er apart from the toilet cleaning job:D:D:D

Sneaky, doing all your Xmas shopping on line!:D:D:D Mind you as you said how stress free, defo going to do that next Christmas:)

All the best Kevin:)

Tracey:)

I had a really good day at vane today, Dougie from the Kitchen is also a fifer & lives in Cardenden too, so I got a lift in with him today.. though that meant I was in 9am till 5pm...

Started of with a quality job.... cleaning the toilets, woo hoo :)

But then Chris & I went out to do is BTO tetrad survey which last for 2 hours, highlight were 2 Snow Buntings & also a flock of 30 Fieldfare..

It is a wonderful reserve, the staff are also fab, full of funky characters & it's great getting to know the other volunteers as well..

Christmas can be over-powering, but for me well I did all my shopping via Amazon online, kinda sneaky but so stress free I heartly recommend it :)

Anyway merry Xmas tracey..

What happened to the taking it easy then!!!:D :D :D The bird count sounds like it was good fun, good numbers of Whooper swans and seven Barnacle geese not bad at all:) I wonder what you'll be doing tomorrow? It's a wonderful reserve and it's a pleasure to be able to be a part of it and helping out where ever you are needed. It certainly is a feel good factor, knowing that every thing you do is important and really makes a difference.

I've still got Christmas shopping to do, bah humbug and all of that:D :D :D I hope you and yours have a brilliant Christmas and New Year.

Tracey:)

Well so much for me taking it easy, was out at Vane farm today thankfully not to taxing.. Going to be out tomorrow as well & for longer 9am-5pm... really enjoying getting out, fresh air, exercise & of course satisfaction of doing some conservation work..

Still not seen a Sea Eagles over the loch, though had the job of doing the bird count at the floods which I enjoyed doing especially as there were 7 barnacle geese & over 100 Whooper swans...

Hope your feeling funky, especially with xmas just around the corner :)

Hi Kevin,

what a shame coming down with the flu! It was last week that I got it as well and boy it is just so exhausting isn't it! I'm not as bad, but still tired. Hopefully by the time Christmas day arrives we'll both be fighting fit again:) Just take it easy Kevin and don't try to do to much.

Take care

Tracey:)

Hi Tracey,

I hope you too have a merry Christmas & the happiest of New Years..

I've been rather quiet of late, came down with the flu last week, well to begin with I thought it was just a minor cold, or as I call it man flu (men tend to play on minor ailments :) But it hit alot harder & I was under the weather for over a week, so missed getting out to Vane Farm & only browsed WAB occasionally..

I'm hopeful of getting out on monday/tuesday..

Hope your in fine health :)

Hi Kevin,

just wanted to wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year:)

All the best

Tracey:)

Hi Kevin,

Wow, what a day you had yesterday!:) In spite of the fact that Buzzards are fairly common now, I still think they are amazing to watch. I wish I'd ambled in yesterday, so that I could have seen the Ravens as well and yes I also think they are just amazing. I've only ever seen distant views of them at Vane, but when I went up the Schiehallion we were very lucky to be quite close to them. We were at the top of the mountain and they just seemed to stay with us and even followed us as we descended for about 20 minutes, during this time they flew very close to us and it was the first time I'd heard that wonderful cronking sound that they make. Memories like that are for keeps and it's nice to dip into them:)

Glad you didn't have to do hard labour when you were there:) I'll be in on Friday, having lunch with Sadie again. I was saddened to hear that Richard had left, a really nice lad, I'll miss him.

Yep, I took my camera and took some pics of the birds on the feeders behind the willow fence in the picnic area, anyway moving on.........okay, my pics were pretty awful!:( More practice me thinks!:)

All the best

Tracey:)