How low can you get?

Posted on by Brian Scott

February 24th – it was one of those dreich, depressing kind of days and I really was not feeling it, I’m becoming more convinced that this near constant dank grey is having an effect on our well-being, the weather apps only show a future sunny day to cheer us up because the reality is too depressing. It’s not good.

Anyway, later in the day I thought feckit, I’m going out so I layered up and went out for a walk on the patch.

Along the top field, down the slope to the camera site, nothing much to report, across the reed bed swamp 🙂 and over the field to the top lane.

It was as I approached the lane that I started to hear a deep droning sound. I couldn’t quite work out the direction or even what it was, an aircraft taking off from Dundee? A tractor in the field over the hill? As I reached the lane and the top of the slope, it got louder but I still couldn’t pin down a direction.

I was slow walking, listening and looking out over the Strath below. It’s a helicopter! A Chinook or an older Bell, a really deep, throbbing beat. I grabbed the binocs and started scanning the horizon and below.

It, they had to be either really high, in the low cloud or very low.

I caught a flash of light, way down low and spotted it, then the other! Chinooks, no mistaking that sound and they were LOW! If I had been down at that level, I wouldn’t have seen them.

I watched as they headed East-ish along the Strath then start to climb for some reason, maybe approaching Forfar, they were too low?

That was that, gone over the trees.

A wee distraction on an otherwise very quiet walk, makes a change from birds right? 🙂

patch walks 2026

14 thoughts on “How low can you get?”

  1. Another “dreich” day, uff dah! We both speak English but with our very own regional dialects. I have learned to very much appreciate your descriptive writing, as much as the included images. Please appreciate that while the sun is nice, it can get to nasty cold for walking. I was swapping out SD cards in both trailcams and a birdsong listening station deep in the Boreal forest wilderness two mornings ago. Although the sun was technically up and super bright, the air temperature was -16C (3F) with a 20 mph wind plus two feet of new snow to attempt a slog through. I decided it was not worth hiking further to swap out SD cards on my more remote trailcams.

    My one question, have you ever seen an ice road?! Ice Planet Birding:

    Ice Planet Birding

    Rich Hoeg

    Northern Minnesota

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    1. I messed up with the temperature. It was -16F (not Celsius). Thus, in your terms the air temperature was -27C. I did hike but came back to my car often to get warm. Heated / electrical gloves were the ticket. How does one stay warm and dry on a “dreich” day!

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      1. Hi Rich, I wear layers, ski-type waterproof trousers, three top layers and I have good pair of Vivo waterproof boots. It’s more wet than cold but both together 🥶

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  4. Yes mental well being in these areas is often under threat as it s for many similar countries where depression rates are high. Some adapt if born into it others escape it. I personally found Britain bad enough we have lots of light here down under.

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