The Findhorn near Forres

Dear Mr and Mrs MB.....!! Just keep on walking ..and never forget the camera....those shots are spectacular....and the light really superb.
We too have the Hog Weed problems down here...but not as much as you folk obviously.
It is a relief to see the water level down again isn't it....the frost is helping to slow things down here too...and I heard it was minus 7 in places last night. I just had zero at the back door but it was minus 3 on the dog walk...I was glad of the hand-warmers!!

what a beautifull walk mr and mrs MB, stunning scenery and blue skies, nothing better than a walk along the water. makes you feel good to be alive :o)))

Thanks Alz. and Sandra it was -4 here last night. Meant it was another glorious day though!

That water looks cold MG!! Lovely pics tho'.

Lovely pics. MG.
Interesting to see the cobbles... :o)

Beautiful scenery what a lovely walk, places I will no longer be able to venture to.

~lovely walk~ I am glad you enjoyed it! Spectacular blue on the water~ We haven't had a frost yet here but it is colder~ clear sky tonight so may be out with some fleece!

A lovely walk there, I would love to cast a line across that water just wandering down with the current. Looks fantastic! :~))

Really nice scenery and views the water looked such a lovely blue.

Thanks all for your kind comments, I'm using a new camera and trying to come to terms with the differences between it and the old one.

Ian you would pay heavily to cast a line for salmon on the Findhorn, unless you were a member of one of the local angling associations - even then membership isn't cheap!

Oh yes, You're certainly not understating that one MG! I would need a mortgage to pay for a rod around your neck of the woods. Lol :~))

Well the Spey is more expensive... but you can fish for trout without it costing an arm and both legs!

Still not cheap, though!

By the way the water was beyond cold... no way would I have gone for a paddle!

You live in a beautiful part of the world Mr & Mrs MB. Lovely pictures of wonderful scenery :-)

Thx. Sue

Thanks for sharing always lovely to see the area in which members live helps to place geographically .. and understand the gardening requirements for different locations .Beautiful area.

As a fully paid up member of the hogweed sap blister society ..I know what its like ..nows the time to tackle as woody stems mean sap no longer rising.

Hi BB problem is it is a fully herbaceous perennial and all the seeds are already down on the ground looking to grow! There is no way to tackle the parent plants right now as they are dormant but, next year, they will reappear with a vengeance.

Thats a lovely blog shame the Victorians brought in JKW in the first place. It costs a fortune to remove if its in a garden. I watched a programme about removing it from a plot over £25,000 to remove it then put in barriers to stop it coming back before they were allowed to build.

Lovely photos and a most enjoyable walk....thanks for bringing us along. I've heard about the horrors of the Japanese Knotweed and Giant Hogweed but I've never seen them in real life. It must be awful to see them taking all the natural growth over.

Stunning scenery. Loved the blog. Shame about the invaders !!!

It is Gilli, it is...

Lovely photos. The water looked so clean and blue.

It is Hywel, just rather too cold to swim or even paddle in - though there are folk who swin in the sea every day of the year!

Oh there's a place near here where people go into the sea every new years day. They show it on the tv. I think they're mad lol.

We get JKW on the riverbank, but I'm hoping - fat chance - that the recent flooding might have uprooted some of it and washed it away....though it does help to hold the bank in place! I spray it every year with glyphosate which certainly keeps it in check and it's never spread into the garden. They recommend slicing through the stems and then pouring the solution into them ( they're hollow ) so it gets to the roots more quickly.
Giant Hogweed is a pest, too, but we only get the odd bit of that, nothing we can't handle ( with gloves, of course! )

Our old neighbour ( long gone, so he can't be harmed, sued or otherwise derided by what I'm about to reveal ) used to pop a keepnet under the bridge...caught loads of trout and the occasional salmon that way, and never had to pay a penny! Resourceful old pensioner!

There is a New years Day swim at Findhorn and a Boxing Day swim in Burghead harbour. I don't parcipitate in either!

Honestly, they must be bonkers, Mr. MG. It's enough to bring on a heart attack just thinking about it!

-8 degrees here earlier this morning, but rising....what's it like in your neck of Morayshire?

We had our first bit of frost this morning. Not much - just a light coating on the car windscreens and the shed roofs. That's enough for me lol.

-6 here overnight and still below freezing now

That's cold ! Is is normal for you to have such cold temps this early ?
We might get down to -5 or -6 on the occasional night sometimes, but usually in Jan/Feb

It is unusual for it to be frosty for three nights in a row this early in November but a welcome break from the rain I promise you! Not supposed to be frosty here tonight but who knows...

I know all about swimming in the sea all year round,.....my late husband and I did it for years and I can assure you folk, it was a lot warmer IN the water than out....and quite often there would be snow and ice on the shore.
We used to go down to the sands most afternoons and have a swim...it was great and would sort out any back-ache I had....a form of "shock treatment" initially I used to say ...but I soon realised the benefits!!
Sadly as the years went on the hygiene level of the sea deteriorated to such an extent it became unsafe.....what with raw sewage being allowed to float about....I leave the rest to your imagination!!

MG, my daughter went to Findhorn in the 70's on a kind of journey of discovery. It was to some kind of community which had created a fantastic garden which grew every kind of fruit and vegetable, all from land which previously had been utterly barren. Is this the same Findhorn?
Your photos are fantastic. What wonderful scenery and what lovely reflections.
Beautiful.

~ Hi Mad~ I remember a series on TV about an eco-village called Findhorn which I assume is the same place your daughter went to? Is it still surviving Moongrower?

~ I found a whole load of info on the ecovillage which seems to be doing well ~ I thought this info was interesting:-

On the 13th of October 1995 Jonathan Porritt opened Europe's first Living Machine ® at the Findhorn Ecovillage. This ecologically engineered sewage treatment plant is designed to treat sewage from the population of up to 500 people living at the Findhorn Ecovillage and is providing a research and educational facility to promote ecological water treatment technology throughout the world.

Ecological water treatment systems such as the Living Machine ® and Biomatrix ® Remediation systems, treat wastewater based on a 'whole systems' approach to biological technology. They utilise a set of sequenced, complete ecologies. Treatment can be taken to advanced standards in cost effective projects, which are reliable, robust and aesthetically pleasing. The approach represents a shift from high energy, chemically intensive treatment, to the adoption of the principles of ecological engineering.

In the Living Machine ® sewage arrives in a greenhouse containing a series of tanks. Diverse communities of bacteria, algae, micro-organisms, numerous species of plants and trees, snails, and fish interact as whole ecologies in these tanks and biofilters. These mirror processes that occur in the natural world, but do so more intensively. At the end of the series of tanks, the resulting water is pure enough to discharge directly into the sea or to be recycled. The technology is not only capable of meeting tough new sewage outflow standards, but uses no chemicals, and has a relatively inexpensive capital cost attached.

Biomatrix Water is based at Findhorn and the founding partners of the Biomatrix Water team have over two decades of experience designing and delivering ecological engineering projects for the treatment and recycling of municipal and industrial wastewater and bioremediation. The design approach applies current best practice in modern wastewater treatment and process control with the latest developments in ecological engineering. The resulting research shows that the wise use of modern materials, biomimicry, and design innovation, provide an effective solution to the problems of urban water pollution and aquatic habitat degradation.

A pity this couldn't be done on a wider scale as it uses no chemicals~

It is happening elsewhere, I'll ask Mr MB to write about...

Mad there is Findhorn Village which is an old fishing village and the Findhorn Foundation and community which is where you daughter would have gone. They are very near to each other but some of the older villagers are still not 100% happy about the community. Yes the dad and have wonderful gardens growing everything organically. I'll try to remember to visit and takes pix next year

Glorious pics - but it looks jolly cold, bet that walk put roses in your cheeks!

That's one way of describing it Bamboo...

In 1995 I was a regulator with the local river board and had involvement in the Living Machine at Findhorn. I have found the site where Arlene gets information from and would question it being opened by Johnathon Porrit. My memory is of a very well respected Tibetan monk (don't remeber the name) performing the opening ceremony.
However that is unimportant. Until recently I was responsible for monitoring the performance of the system and can report that it did, and still does, produce a very good effluent that is disposed of to a soakaway in the sand dunes. There was talk of using it for irregation, and even drinking water, but I think that adverse health impications have put a stop to this.
The Findhorn Living Machine was set up as a demonstration model of what can be done. It was very expensive to construct but does not rely on heavy technology. I understand that there are now many of these systems in remote parts of the world where heavy engineering is not available.

lovely walk thanks for sharing your day out with us, nice blog and photos.

And do you get the fairy overflow into your moon gardens, too?!

I believe that the nature spirits help us in all our gardens given half a chance.

Are you familiar with Machelle Small-Wright's work in Peralandra? Her first book was "Behaving as if the God in all Life Matters" which included 96 pages of bio that seemed irrelevant until she proceeded to recount incredible (and I mean INCREDIBLE) interactions with the nature spirits. She has continued a rather scientific study of her results in subsequent books.

Very aware of Orgratis... Take a look at another title 'Ask Mother Nature' - we might want to continue this by PM or, if you go to my moon blog site, you can send me an e-mail.

Found it: by Ellen Vande Visse, right? I'm in the midst of painting walls & moving the next week, so I'll get with you a little further on down the path. Thanks for the referral: I've been preaching that gospel to some disbelief for a while, and still have much to learn.