Solstice in Northeastern Scotland

Yesterday it was the longests day and shortest night in the northern hemisphere. I happen to be in Scotland at the moment, and probably the first time in my life that I have been on such a hight lattitude during any solstice. Aberdeen is lying on the 57 degree N lattitude, making the day much longer than it it is experienced in Cape Town during the December solstice. My "chum" took me for a long forest walk after work, and even though the route took us on a 10km track in the "wild", it was still light by the time we returned home. As a matter of fact when I went to bed last night just after midnight it still felt like someone had forgotten to turn of the light. This morning at 5 when I woke up the sun was shining again. It feels like someone has stolen my night from me, but at least I got my bit of sleep in.

We took a stroll through the Gartly Moor Forest which is a couple of kilometres (or miles as they prefer to use in Scotland) from Insch. I was amazed by the tranquility of the forest. Being a commercial planted forest this is obviously not really in the wild, and the only wildlife we encountered was a little field mouse which my friend had mistaken for a baby hedgehog. He obviously does not see much wildlife in Scotland. I have to admit, it didn't look much like the mice we have in South Africa, and the poor little thing didn't even run away. But what is there to run away from in such a beautiful forest anyway...except kestrels maybe. No matter the type of wildlife, Scotland is beautiful and I hope to post more pictures soon.