Hogmanay

Firstly, a Happy New Year to one and all.

Yesterday was a bit of an education, and not just because I kept referring to it as New Year's Eve and being exasperatedly corrected to "Hogmanay!" As a person born outwith Scotland, it has always been a bit of a puzzle why Hogmanay is a bigger thing here than Christmas. However, I now know that this is due in large part to the Reformation in 1560 and Presbyterianism. From the mid 16th Century until well into the 20th Century, Christmas celebrations were banned. In fact, in Scotland, Christmas Day did not become a public holiday until 1958, and Boxing Day wasn't an official holiday until 1974.

Scots being the canny folk they are, they transferred their celebrations to New Year's Eve (sorry, Hogmanay) and New Year's Day, which were secular occasions and not governed by the Church.

Right then, what did I get up to on New Y... 🙄 ... Hogmanay? The weather forecast looked much better than for New Year's Day, so a gentle 4 mile saunter was taken pre-lunch. Just locally, from the doorstep, no fossil fuels involved. Oh, and naked. Of optics. No binoculars, just eyeballs. Although I did borrow a camera occasionally for the below photographs. It was a good work-out for my eyes and ears.

There were flocks of Winter thrushes (Redwing and Fieldfare) in the pastures, ducks aplenty (Wigeon, Teal, Mallard, Eider, Long-tailed, Red-breasted Merganser) in Scapa Flow, and a big flock of finches (mainly Greenfinch, but with a few Chaffinch and Goldfinch) in the trees around the Earl's Bu. In the Gyre Wood, a bough of a fallen tree (maybe Sycamore, but could've been Rowan. I have difficulty with tree ID even when they're in leaf, so bare branches were always going to be a struggle) had, at first glance, a piece of red and orange netting caught on it. Upon closer inspection, this turned out to be  what I presume are the fruiting bodies of a fungus, like little berries poking through the bark.

On the journey home, there was a moment of small irony. In a deep ditch, under a hedge of Gorse and Rowan, a wind-blown plastic feed bag was snagged on a branch. It waved about proudly like a flag, proclaiming to the world that it was Organic.

Here's hoping for a more environmentally and ecologically joined-up year in 2022.