Tuesday 8 May 2012

Mither Tap.

Today the Dawn Patroller took himself off to Bennachie.



The hill/mountain in the middle of the picture is called Mither Tap.  This is Doric for Mother's Tap, i.e. a nipple on the breast.  

The most prominent peak, Mither Tap (518 m, 1699 feet) provides good views of the county to the north and east. Most of the tops lie along an east / west ridge, with the exception of Millstone Hill (409 m) an outlier or spur which is separated from and to the south of the main ridge. Mither Tap has an Iron Age fort on its summit. Unlike with many other hilltop forts in the area, there are no signs of vitrification in the stone.[2] Bennachie is visible from a number of distant points; to the north it is visible from Longman Hill, a point considerably to the north.[3]Wikepedia.



The iron age fort.

And some other people mad enough to go up the top, far better equipped than the Dawn Patroller.


The view from the top.   



And the one view that drives Mr Donald Trump wild, particularly if its in the sea next to his golf course.



And this was the real reason for the DP's trip.  To see a Capercaillie.  Albeit this lone female.


So lonely she takes herself off to the Visitor Centre Car park to meet up with teenage school children.  Only to find the males of that species give chase only to see her fly.




So this year she will not be being a Mither.

3 comments:

Christine Laennec said...

Gosh I haven't been up Bennachie in a while. Such great views! I've certainly never seen a Capercaillie wandering around though.

BTW, I've no idea if this is of any interest to you but there is a public lecture by Kathryn Logan on the Moray Firth Gansey Project at the Elphinstone Institute (Univ. of Aberdeen) the evening of the 29th of May. I can't go myself, but thought I'd let you know on the off chance you're keen, or have friends who are. (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/archaeology/seminars/1316/)

justjill said...

Christine, thanks for that. I have another posting in the pipeline for the ganseys.

BadPenny said...

aww poor childless birdy. Dramatic scenery.