The chairman, Norman Thomson, welcomed 23 members and friends. After that a belated presentation to our previous treasurer, Kevin Stocks, who had done a sterling job for 11 years.
Then Norman introduced the speaker ,Eric Jensen, who gave a presentation of “Deeside & Highland Charm”. He started off showing slides of Deeside thru’ the Seasons, commencing in winter; scenery and wildlife were finely displayed. Highlights included being ambushed by a capercaillie, and also, a week later, a cock red grouse. The red deer calf with a tear in its eye, illuminated by the first ray of sunlight in the valley. His favourite mountain plant is the “Purple Saxifrage”, normally in bloom in April. The tameness of nesting ptarmigan and dotterel is remarkable on the high mountain plateaus. Some of the rarest mountain plants were illustrated , including “tufted & highland Saxifrages”. Eric stated that photographing the very rare “Mountain Burnett moth” on a lovely alpine Milk vetch was a triumph. We saw a “Brocken spectre”, Cairngorm crystals and a rainbow over the Lairig Ghru – and a lot of other delights.
Part two took us round the Highlands and Islands, commencing in Perth-shire and concluding in the outer Hebrides. Nature and scenery were again the principal themes with a little bit of geology thrown in . Highlights included icicle formations, pinewood rarities -like Linnaea borealis – a grounded Golden eaglet and a lovely grey seal pup.
Norman gave the vote of thanks to Eric, and many of us were amazed how knowledgeable he was on so many different subjects, like botany, geology, birdlife, mountain names, etc.
The meeting finished with refreshments.
