Enjoying the Great Outdoors Responsibly
Our first daffodils are out, so Spring must just be around the corner, and this newsletter needs to be delivered. In this edition, Fiona Milne forgoes her insights into our flora and fauna and issues us with a gentle reminder on the country code – very timely now that the Peterculter to Crathes section of the Deeside Way is almost complete. Then Diana Robertson has some insight into Housemaids’ Knees and Tennis Elbows and the Country Loon explains how both he and the Met Office got it wrong.
On weightier issues, the dust might be settling on the wheelie bin waste management or, depending on your viewpoint, mismanagement issue. However the next issue seems set to run considerably longer. It is quite something when 900 or so people turn up at a public meeting in the InternationalSchool to protest about the Scottish Executive’s new preferred routing the Aberdeen Bypass. Years of public consultation and extensive study have apparently counted for naught, and the good folk of Milltimber might be forgiven for feeling conned and crying foul after reported assurances that they need not worry………. A familiar experience to many whose lives have been blighted by planning process. However, our local councillor Cllr. Wallace is on the case, and you can read all about it in this newsletter.
Consultation is of course a two edged weapon. It raises the expectations of the consulted, and their response may not be what the powers-that-be would like. It is a process that requires careful and sympathetic management, and above all must be seen to be open and honest. Its successful outcome is persuasive acceptance. Bulldozing by dictate just reinforces the cynicism and the despair of the governed against the faceless bureaucrats and politicians who govern them. David Morrish’s CDDCC report on their frustration with Planning Services’ stonewalling over consultation on the development brief is a case in point. Nothing changes, and I suspect even our elected councillors are as powerless as we mere mortals and taxpayers in the face of decades of entrenched officialdom’s obduracy
Editor
Enjoying the Great Outdoors …… Responsibly.
I am sitting in my office looking out at a beautiful frosty, but sunny morning. I’m really hoping that the weather holds for my next days off so I can get out and about. Everyone now has the right to enjoy most of the land in Scotland for recreation thanks to legislation passed last year. As with most rights this new freedom comes with responsibilities.
The new Scottish Countryside Access Code explains these rights and responsibilities. Access rights cover many activities for example picnicking, walking, cycling and horse riding. They do not include using any type of motorised vehicle, hunting, shooting or fishing. There is no automatic right of access to buildings and their immediate surroundings, gardens, and fields with crops. Where there is a right of access it is vital that no damage is caused to the land.
So what does this mean to the way you can enjoy the countryside? The main thing is to use common sense. Take responsibility for your own actions, respect the interests of others and care for the environment.
Be aware that some paths are not suitable for activities such as riding bikes or horses as these activities can cause damage. For example riding a horse down a well-surfaced farm track at walking pace may cause no damage, but to ride at a canter on a soft path can cause considerable damage. Paths don’t repair themselves – it takes people’s time and often costly materials.
The countryside is a place where many of us work as well as live. Look out for signs that tell you if dangerous activities are being carried out, or if paths have been re-routed for safety reasons. If your planned route involves crossing a field with livestock think about finding an alternative or go round the edge of the field.
The good old country code that I was taught as a child still matters…
- Take your litter home – as well as being an eyesore it can be dangerous to wildlife. I have rescued hedgehogs tangled in plastic bag handles, birds from fishing line, and have had the unpleasant duty on several occasions of emptying dead mice, shrews and voles from discarded bottles and cans.
- Treat places with care – think if your actions could cause damage or disturb others.
- Don’t disturb wildlife.
- Keep dogs under proper control. Don’t take it into fields with calves or lambs, and keep it on a short lead if other livestock are present. If your dog fouls a footpath, lawn etc clean up after it – but please, please don’t leave the bag at the side of the path, hanging from trees, or anywhere else. Put it in a bin or take it home.
So next time your out in the countryside feel free to explore…responsibly !
Fiona Milne
NTS Senior Ranger
CrathesCastle
News From DrumCastleGardens
House Maid's Knees
and Tennis Elbows
There are no housemaids at DrumCastle anymore, though the servants bells may make you think otherwise. But housemaid's knees there are plenty of as John and Jackie Fisher, the Castle Custodians and their small team of volunteer helpers, start the annual spring clean of the castle. Every nook and cranny and every item of furniture and porcelain is meticulously cleaned to a rigorous set of rules and standards. Rules that become more complex each year with developing conservation techniques and best practices.
Imagine owning a house that takes six weeks to clean! I find that six hours is enough for me. But then, I get distracted easily, and my spring clean turns into a browse through a photo album, or a trip down memory lane in the form of 70's LP's. Or the birds look hungry and I turn to making birdfood or baking for the girls coming home hungry from school. Anything but clean! Spring rapidly becomes summer and suddenly house cleaning becomes a very low priority once more. Next year, I promise myself, I'll start earlier.
The annual spring clean has started in the gardens too, a more pleasurable experience by far. The pruning of shrubs and trees is in full swing and hearty bonfires are built to keep the blood pulsing on these cold crisp days. When the sun comes out for long enough to thaw the fingers, we switch to rose pruning, a very inactive task that makes the knees stiff and the toes lose all sense of their encasing steel toe-caps. It is only when you move to go for your fly-cup, that you realise how cold you have got and that rigor mortis has actually set in. However the satisfaction of seeing everything beautifully layered and tied into the wall wires and knowing that that rose will give an A+ display in July, makes you feel good; a warm heart and frozen toes (and nose). There is also the intimacy with which one gets to know a small section of the eighteenth century wall with its decaying masonry holes where wrens flit in and out, cavities where ladybirds hibernate in heaps, safe and cosy, and where six generations of hand made nails are set. I have a bit of a fetish about those hand made nails.
Of course, the secret of spring cleaning is to focus on one small section and not the whole project. There is tremendous satisfaction in completing that piece to a wonderfully high standard, no use worrying about the 'million' other pieces still to be tackled. It is great to be a perfectionist for a short while, though deep in my mind, I know it cannot last. As Easter approaches, pruning becomes more frantic; less time to carefully explain the techniques, the desired outcome, the rights and wrongs of each cut to the 'eager apprentice'. The 'apprentice becomes the labourer, the picker-upper of prunings, the raker of debris, whilst the craftsman works at lightening speed, both hands going like the clappers.
Thank goodness, Easter is late this year; the apprentice gets to learn for longer, the craftsman gets to enjoy their craft, and the mind is mellow, not stir fried with frenzy.
It takes around six weeks to prune all the roses and prepare for opening. Six weeks of opening and closing secateurs for eight hours a day. Tennis elbow is inevitable and painful. We break the eight hours a day, five days a week with a bonfire or three, a little bit of early grass cutting, some fertilizing and mulching, but the main job to be done is pruning, and lots of it. It all comes down to lots of finger exercises whenever the TV. is on, lathers of gardener's lotions received as Christmas pressies, and worked into all the joints and crevices and of course, delegation.
So far, three new volunteers have appeared fresh from New Year's resolutions and bursting like the buds on the plants with enthusiasm and craving to learn. They start with how to keep their tools razor sharp, so that each cut really counts, and stems are sliced , not crushed or twisted. Crushing or twisting requires more human effort and equals more strain. Better to cut cleanly and save those joints. Sharp secateurs are the crucial first step.
Then the volunteers are reminded how precious those fingers are; we need them whole to be able to help us! The health and safety talk over, they progress onto pruning, hesitantly at first, worrying in case they take off too much, (rose stems or fingers!) The first half-hour is too tentative, side-shooting minor stems and dead heads. The final half hour of the day sees them getting stuck in, loppers are in use to tackle main stems with zest, and slowly the framework for this season's flowers emerges. It takes patience, decision-making abilities, confidence and on my part, delegation. I love this job, it suits my temperament. It keeps me sane in amongst all the paperwork that dominates my job these days. And I have to delegate. Life is cruel.
One day, I'll come back as a volunteer and relish being delegated to. Helping with someone else's spring cleaning. That is, if my housemaid's knees and tennis elbows let me. Else, I'll just have to sit on the garden seat and join in the great 'clack' and 'mak the flycuppy'.
If you would like a go at spring cleaning in the gardens or in the castle, please let us know. We will welcome you with open secateurs and soft dusters! The telephone number is 01330 811204 for the castle or 01330 811406 for the gardens.
Diana Robertson
Head Gardener
A few DrumCastle events dates for your diaries:-
- Early Bird Plant sale - April 2nd
- Easter Funday - April 16th
- Mayday - May 7th
- Woodfest - May 20/21st
MEDICAL NOTES
Our practice recently received two significant items of framed artwork from the children and staff of CulterSchool, part of a funded project in schools. These impressive pictures now grace the walls of our waiting room and have certainly added some new interest to this part of our building. There is clearly a lot of promising young talent out there!
Avian ‘flu continues to feature in the media on a daily basis, as bird cases are identified in western Europe, but there is to date no specific new advice nationally in the UK. The previously heralded national influenza pandemic has not actually materialised, with only sporadic cases being seen in this area to date, thankfully. Other seasonal advice at this time of year is to remind those of you who are planning holidays abroad this summer to think ahead and organise appropriate vaccinations in good time – if left until the last minute you may not have adequate protection.
Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Parlez vous Francais? A recent medical study in Canada claims that learning a second language may help to preserve ‘cognitive function’ (thinking etc) in the brain and so perhaps protect against some of the features of decline in brain function seen in older age. An interesting concept, but it is often difficult to be sure how much we can glean in terms of actual practical advice from such scientific studies. I expect there are other benefits to be gained from such pursuits including social contact, satisfaction and enjoyment which are a little more difficult to quantify but possibly more directly beneficial to one’s wellbeing. So if you enjoy it and it’s not bad for you, do it! … and it might be good for you!
Dr DCM Harris, Peterculter
Drumoak Durris Crathes Bowling Club
The club is continuing to enjoy a successful winter indoor season with the domestic competitions and league commitments nearing completion. Another importantevent is the indoor open triples competition which commences on 11th March. This is an invitation occasion, with many local clubs sending along teams to compete.
On the social side we held a virtually sell-out Burns Supper in January and at the time of writing are anticipating a Quiz night on Saturday 25th February.
The Committee's attention is now focussed on the coming outdoor season, with the green opening scheduled for Sunday 23rd April. In this connection it has been decided to hold an Open Day in conjunction with our usual Coffee Morning on 13th May. We hope that local residents, especially new ones, will come along and get some idea of the sport. More details of this eventwill be issued shortly.
The Annual General Meeting of the club will be held in the pavilion on Wednesday 29th March at 7.30 pm. This is the best opportunity members have of making their views heard, so we ask them to come along and support their club
J Lyon, Secretary,
Tel. 01330 811475
Observations of a Country Loon
‘Weel weel’ The Met Office and the Country Loon nearly got the forecast for the winter months correct, considering, the continent has been getting the worst winter for many a year. ‘The continent is nae that far awa’. The Met Office did admit they can get there forecast ‘affa wrang’. Good on them. The Country Loon never gave mention of even the possibility of being wrong. Shame on him! At the time of writing the December news letter he should have mentioned that it is normal for the north Atlantic to become warmer as the North Sea gets colder, this being caused by the same concentration of warm Gulf Stream water entering the Atlantic and staying put. At the time of writing the article the country loon ‘coodna faa n wi’ the information to tell if it was warmer and if so, by how many degrees, putting the blame on ‘lack of fishermen noo-a-days’ to get the information from. Instead he just assumed the next three months would be more wintry than normal. But, if he had gone online he would have found the Atlantic was much warmer than normal which gives us much warmer westerly winds, these winds are still keeping the cold Arctic air stream which has been giving us the kind of weather the Northeast is ‘kent the warld ower for receiving mair than its fair share o’, winters with almost constantly ‘caul, raw, and bitter-bitin Nor easterlies’.
There seem to have been less small birds coming to the feeders this winter especially in country areas, finches and tits mostly. There are no house sparrows whatsoever unless there are plenty out buildings to provide day and night shelter. Many of the country small birds seem to move into the urban areas of towns where they are finding a good source of food. Back in the mid seventies a survey was done on the movement of small birds during the winter months, it was found a great many of most species moved approximately sixty miles further south, which on average is one degree warmer. I can image if such a survey was done at the present time it would be found that most of them ‘jist gyang intae toon’.
It is pleasing to see the earth worm close to the surface again after a spell of being ‘weel doon’ during the continuous spell of frost we had a month back, hopefully it indicates the last of the penetrating ground frost. I would expect if we get severe frosts now there would be a covering of snow. There is little sign of movement amongst any of the bird and animal life at present, skeins of geese are very few, oystercatchers have not yet ventured on to the fields, and even the red squirrels are showing no sign of activity. I like to keep a watchful eye on a colony near by and most years their courtship chases begin by early to mid February.
Until there is more activity amongst the wildlife I would expect the weather to stay similar as at present both here and over the continent until full moon on the fourteenth of March. Plant life during the autumn indicated a late spring. Could the winter be about to end with a real ‘fa o sna’?
‘Aa the wealth in the warld is in the wither’
The Country Loon
A message from Rev. Jim Scott for parents of young children :-
THANKSGIVING AND BLESSING OF A CHILD