Mark's Journal

Recently I've been reading about the Roman attempts to extend the province of Britannia into what we now call Scotland. The most effective of the Roman Generals who took on the Caledonii, Novantae, Selgovae, Votadini, Damnonii, Venicones and Maeatae was Gnaeus Julius Agricola. His campaign ran from AD 78 to 82 and principally involved gaining a foothold between the existing border that ran between the Solway and the Tyne and what he hoped would be the new border between the Clyde and the Forth. Having done that he pushed on up the East coast as far as the Tay with the support of ships and marines and pushed the Caledonii tribe back along the Tay into the Cairngorms,   However, Rome was having problems on its Eastern border and the Emperor Domitian came to the throne in AD 81. He was not a military man like his father Vespasian and older brother Titus who were emperors before him and decided to recall Agricola in AD 82 before he became too popular with the Roman army. Domitian set a...

 At the end of May we travelled to Strasbourg for a short holiday, hosted by the lovely Eyde Macdonalds. They have a fantastic wee holiday flat there right in the mediaeval city. Everywhere you look there is a great photo to take. Kay nearly wore out her phone on the walk in from the train station as she tried to photograph every wonderful building. 😊 ⇦⍏⇨ As well as enjoying the sights of Strasbourg, we also made a couple of forays into the Vosges where we visited the Chateau de Haut Koenigsbourg and the towns of Ribeauvillé, Hunawhir and Riquewhir. ⇦⍏⇨ © 2026 Kay Black © 2026 Mark Toner, except where indicated

 The old blog has been a bit neglected of late but that's just because I've been busy in the real world, going to concerts, birdwatching, exploring, eating out and all of that. Online I created a companion blog which I share with Adrian Chenzbraun and Paul Toner, where we post some of our photographic results. For April there is a little post from me showing some of the great birds that visit here in the southwest of Scotland. You can find the whole post here and here are a couple of the photos to get you started.

 This year is a good one for seeing Aurorae as the Sun is coming down in activity from its eleven-year maximum. It's a tricky business though. I have an aurora alert app on my phone but, I need to respond instantly if I am to see the aurora as it doesn't last long. Last night I managed to get some scrappy aurora photos through a back bedroom window, picking up the camera immediately after a red alert on my phone. The aurora was visible above the street light of Dumfries but not as pretty as it would be from out in the countryside. The aurora is the greenish light with red blobs in it, but not the reflection on the window. 😀 Once I was sure I had some photos, I went downstairs, grabbed a coat and shoes and went to get a better view. that was all it took to miss the end of the show. the sky was beautiful, clear and starry but had no aurora in it. So - aurorae are a great challenge to hunt for but you need to be quick. I used the AuroraWatch UK app and the camera is a Fujifilm XT...

  Dihaoine bha mi a’ coiseachd ann a’ choille Heathhall. Bha uisge gu leòr ann an lag ghrinneal agus b’ urrainn dhomh faicinn steallan air an t-uachdar. Nuair bha mi a’ sealltainn faisg air an lag, chunnaic mi muile-mhàg a’ coiseachd fon t-uisge. Cha robh ach an camara beag agam ’s mar sin cha b’ urrainn dhomh toirt dealbh-camara math air sgàth na t-uachdar deàrrsach. Diluain thàinig mi air ais dhon lag ghrinneal. An uair seo bha mi a’ toirt leam am XT-50 Fujifilm agam len claon-ruathar agus glainne dhom pòlarachadh. ’S urrainn dhon camara seo faicinn tron t-uisge. Thàinig Cèidh cuideachd le DSLR len claon-ruathar agus glainne dhom pòlarachadh. An uair seo bha sinn a’ toirt an dealbhan-camara agus ’s iad an seo. Cuideachd chunnaic sinn dearc-luachrach uisge agus `s i seo.

Bho chionn còig bliadhna bha mi a’ faicinn gu leòr. Cha robh mi a feumaidh speuclairean ach cuin bha mi a’ leughadh. Ge-tà Di-Mairt chaidh mi don bùth an fhradharcaiche air sgàth ’s chan e urrainn dhomh faicinn dè a tha mi a’ tarraing no cuin tha mi a’ cluich an ceòl. Chan e urrainn dhomh an obair agam. Chaidh mi do fhradharcaich ùr ach tha i gu h-iongantach an sean fradharcaich agam bho chionn trithead bliadhna. Tha an t-uabhas obair againn ri dhèanamh fhathast. Ach cuideachd lorg i an trioblaid agam. Cuir i òrdugh-cungaidh airson speuclairean vari-focal orm. Chan eil iad saor! Ach ’s toil leam a’ faicinn agus tha mi a’ coimhead air adhart ri a’ faighinn na speuclairean ùr an ath-sheachdain.