scotland good, england bad, etc. (Aberdeenshire)

Road, Road, Tree, Service Station, Tree, Welcome to Scotland Sign, Nicer Road, Tree, Tree, Farm, Strawberries, Tree, etc.

I've never been a fan of driving, so this is always the worst part. It's nice for the first couple of hours, then you get bored of reading and realise you're stuck here for another 5 hours until you reach pretty much the last accessible habitable places in the Northern UK. I love you Haribos but after the second bag I can't take it anymore, why do I never pack any other food for the car? That aside, the thing I noticed when I crossed the border is how well maintained Scottish roads are compared to England. I didn't have to stop once for roadworks, and it was sure as hell smoother than what I'm used to — seriously, parts were like the border between the Netherlands and Belgium

After arriving at the hotel in Portsoy there wasn't anything notable. Found some food at a random Chinese since nothing was open (Salt and Pepper chips at Portsoy Chinese Takeaway, if you're ever close PLEASE try it), took the piss out of some random Southerner who was being a dick complaining about the portion sizes: this was pretty good for me actually since I've found a new mantra and ethic of just striving to live a happier life than him, cause believe me, he was a proper miserable git. Took a walk down to the harbour, put up with a whiny Herring Gull that wouldn't stop squawking to its mother, spent 15 minutes trying to work out what a flag on the side of a pub was (Apparently Banffshire got a new official flag in 2023, image below), walked up to this Dolphin statue above the town, and watched the sunset for a while.

No Dolphins, but damn this place has Hoverflies

A lot of walking this day, personally I couldn't hope for anything better, and there were definitely some results here. Decided to head out to the Scottish Dolphin Centre near Spey Bay. After a look through the gardens and a bit of a detour along the river, I headed up to the rock beach. No cetaceans, but did manage a couple sea birds and a seal sticking it's head above the eater like that one spinning seal gif

Back in the car for walk #2, around the beach and cliffside in Portknockie at Bow Fiddle Rock, and holy arthropoda there was a LOT of stuff here. Obviously plenty of sawflies, bees, grasshoppers, moths, but also all sorts of wildflowers and assorted gull bones in case you're into botany and dead birds as well like me

Another one now, back to Portsoy and onto Walk #3. Nothing as interesting this time, just a trip around the tiny Loch Soy with some food, pretty much just a small local park. Visited Portsoy Ice Cream after that though, I'd heard well of it and it definitely wasn't bad. Tourists seem to love the place though as queues were 10 minutes along the street and we waited another 15 minutes for a waffle, thank god for the fact I think they taste horrific cause I was just chilling with my rum + raisin cone with lemon sauce lmao

Final walk of the day, #4, Inverboyndie beach. Only a small one, but a rewarding trip! Managed to come across one of the more scarce ladybird species, Coccinella undecimpunctata, and pissed about in the sand for a bit. Got bored and made a sandcastle because why the hell not, I have free will and felt full of joy and whimsy. It was a pretty good sandcastle imo.

i really love scotland

Finally on the way out of the hotel in Portsoy. Couldn't come earlier to be honest, there was a weird smell in the room that I couldn't shake and I missed the privacy of an actual bedroom. After a layby at a friend's house to meet some of their birds, I was off to my next accomodation. 

And this is another reason why I love Scotland so much. Like most of Europe, the place is full of castles, which is why it isn't all that weird that I spent the rest of the trip in Delgatie, a restored 11th century castle (Pictured at the top)! It had actually been visited by Mary Queen of Scots for 3 days, the same amount of time I had stayed there. The castle itself had some interesting history, I'll leave the two funniest/most interesting things I read at the end of this dropdown. Past that though, I was welcomed with some of the amazing wildlife around the forests — I wasn't lucky enough to see any wildcats, but I did come across yet another Ladybird species, a Pine Marten, and a Buzzard over the span of literally 5 or so minutes after arriving!

I also took a quick trip to meet family before going off to RSPB Troup Head to check out the Gannets nesting there, the pkace was amazing but covered in bird shit head to toe which actually didn't smell all that bad to me for some reason, in fact I'd say it had quite a nice aroma once you were far away enough from it

And as promised...

i could take jelly shots all day that shit is too good

No images here sadly, spent the whole day with family. These villages are small so I won't go into too much detail so as not to expose my entire family to the internet, but it was alright :)

I'm gonna cry don't make me go back 

Last day, had plenty of fun here! 

First things first I accidentally poisoned myself by eating a Snowberry. I was fine dw, but I did scare the shit out of myself, and got hit by some serious stress after the fact. Obviously I lived but I learned a valuable lesson there

First went around Aberdour Beach, picked up a load of cool rocks and found LOADS of crabs, all dead but i'm a morbid motherfucker so who cares 😈😈. Even more birds, even more wildflowers and plants.

Finished off the day with a walk around the forest next to my castle, and it was another rewarding one! All sorts of mushrooms and plants, decided to stick it safe with the foraging this time and just picked up a couple Wimberries

Coolest finds though were actually things I heard, birds were NOISYYY that day. Managed my first Sparrowhawk and Treecreeper, and also recorded my least favourite sound from one of my favourite birds, the Eurasian Jay (They can really shriek when they're out fighting  😭)

Recordings of the Sparrowhawk, Treecreeper, and Jay ^^