Higham Wood North Fife

Higham Wood North Fife, North facing at Ballinbreich. A wonderful stand of mainly Beech and Ash trees, providing shelter to roe deer, buzzards and badgers. I drive by daily and covet the thousands of self seeded saplings which are ideal log sized fuel for my domestic wood burning stove.

 Opposite lie the remains of Ballinbreich Castle.  More.

River Tay Ballinbreich 21st September

We are experiencing a weak ridge of high pressure 1005mb, so frost this morning and the day gave way to patchy sunshine, warmish when bathed by it. Humidity is 70% which doesn't bode well for the remaining grain and oilseed rape. As a measure, today the solar panels generated 15.257 Kwh of energy. Not brilliant but not bad either.

The River Tay looking West from Ballinbreich.

Later the same day 21st september.

Sunny Dundee beyond Ballinbreich Castle 21st September about 4pm. Just then it was Dundee's turn, later it rained. What a surprise....

Sure enough it was raining.....

Ballinbreich North Fife April 2012

Ballinbreich Castle as viewed from Black-Earnside lay-bye for Lois.

Ballinbreich Castle

Badger North Fife

Badger, alas a road kill at Higham woods opposite Ballinbreich Farm and Castle. Open fields to one side of the curving road and woods the other. I found it two days ago and moved to the side of the road where I photographed it today. This particular stretch of road is increasingly fatal to so many wild animals, over the years I have collided with many deer and once an otter, all quite disturbing.

Tayview North Fife 16th March 2011

A bright sunny day after a dull and cold start with a lingering mist. What a joy to see the Pinkfoot Geese, everyone I met was happy and full of the joys of spring, twill all change back tomorrow as more rain is forecast. Och well.

Tayview 16th March.

Alert and quite nervous, heads up and ready to fly.

Pinkfoot geese alarmed by my presence take off.

The pinkfoot geese quickly back again and settling down to forage the short grass.

Ballinbreich Castle on the River Tay, long shadows falling over the field from Higham woods.

Higham Woods bare of leaves, mainly beech trees.

Ballinbreich Castle March 2010

Ballinbreich Castle as viewed from the road to Newburgh North Fife. A friend has lent me a shot of a Sigma lens, much longer than my normal for the Nikon D90. Hand held in relatively low light conditions. I'm needing a longer lens and it's becoming a question of taste and see. I see the this castle every day and find it hard to resist
recording it.

Newburgh as seen half a mile further along the road this morning. Same lens. It makes a change to have a different perspective.

Mugdrum Island off Newburgh last night on my way home. I liked the light.

Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG Macro For Nikon Digital & Film Cameras. This is the lens I've just started using, so far I'm really tempted to buy for my own use.
Technical Details

* An excellent budget priced tele-zoom for film and digital SLR cameras
* Versatile zoom for sport, portraiture and nature photography
* Low dispersion glass element for effective control of colour abberations
* Multi layer coating optimises quality for digital photography
* Maximum magnification 1:2 in macro mode at 300mm
Manufacturer's Description
This lens has a 1:2 maximum close-up magnification at the 300mm focal length. Excellent performance telephoto zoom lens for digital and 35mm SLR cameras. It also has a switch for changeover to macro photography at focal lengths between 200mm and 300mm. The minimum focusing distance is 1.5m (59.1 inches) at all zoom settings. We used SLD (Special Low Dispersion) glass in this lens for excellent correction of chromatic aberration. It is effectively corrected for fluctuation of aberration due to focusing. Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 DG Macro For Nikon Digital & Film Cameras

North Fife Photographs Ballinbreich

Higham Woods to the South of Ballinbreich. The recent snowfalls though now on the thaw allow one to see into the woods in a way not possible when the trees are in leaf. The wood is much frequented by Roe Deer which can be a hazard to themselves and motorists on meeting. Below is a casualty last year.



To the East of Ballinbreich Castle the fields run down to the River Tay, due to the remaining snow subtle indentations are displayed making an unusual linear design.

The River Tay October 14, 2009

As I leave my home to travel to Newburgh North Fife I am confronted with this view, ever changing, ever fantastic. The River Tay has the greatest volume of fresh water flow in the UK. Here at Flisk the sky is dominant too, it's something I'm happy to share via this media.


A closer view of The River Tay this October 2009. By the waterside, middle left you can see Ballinbreich Castle, in its time a fabulous home.

Mugdrum Island more evident as we approach Newburgh.

Forest Guardian North Fife

Well, sort of, I find them to be quite amazing creatures. We each have our place in the order of things. This book below is about non-poisonous eradication, myself I collect from the garden in North Fife around managed plants and feed the ducks, they really love them.


Slugs and snails leave a trail of destruction in most gardens. In this book we show you how to make your garden less attractive to them and how to prevent them damaging your plants. Banish slugs - natural solutions for your home & garden; Slugs and snails are a curse for nearly every gardener - there can be nothing more disappointing than discovering that precious plants have been ravaged. And there's no simple way of dealing with them. In this book we look at how to keep the slimy population under control without using poisons that could affect pets or other wildlife. We look at the methods that work and those that probably don't. We look at how to make your garden less attractive to them and how to encourage the wildlife that likes to snack on them. The conclusion - be alert and use as many different methods as possible to combat the threat to your plants. With this in hand you'll soon have the battle won.Banish Slugs and Snails - Naturally (Green Essentials - Natural Solutions for Your Home & Garden S.)
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A wee amble on the right side of the hedge parallel to the road by Ballinbreich farm and castle. There,s something about walking and indeed just being in a wood, calming, peaceful even primal.


This was the view on leaving, Again the silvery Tay, I don't know about you but daily I feast upon it though everyone will have an equivalent sight which I would love to see as well.

Higham Woods North Fife

Higham Woods North Fife, is mainly deciduous, beech and ash on a north facing hill over looking The River Tay and Ballinbreich Castle and farm, it is very quiet and visited by very few, maybe 2 of 3 people per week is home to roe deer and other wildlife. A few miles east of Newburgh on the boundary road. Amazingly here in the relative middle of nowhere there is a WC. Of all places in the world to come across such a convenience is so incongruous. If one is caught short, a simple squat and use of a nearby leaf or two would normally do and yet there you have it, better facilitated than Newburgh. So if you are ever passing this way, you know where to go.

Ballinbreich North Fife May 1st 2009

Ballinbreich Castle North Fife. Today May the 1st, sunshine and showers and a typical view from the road.

North Fife Snowdrops

Today on my way to Newburgh North Fife I called in at Ballinbreich Farm to record the stands of natural snowdrops. Around Ballinbreich Castle on the banks of the River Tay in uncultivated ground many wild flowers abound, snowdrops followed by lesser celandine and bluebells at the beginning of the botanical year.


These Snowdrops in North Fife surrounding Ballinbreich Castle stand in huge clumps, growing through the leaf litter.





In amongst the leaf litter was this animal skull, I think it maybe a badger, perhaps someone will inform me.

North Fife History. Cupar: A History History of North Fife Cupar. North Fife Property. Tour Scotland. North Fife Maps. St.Andrews and East Fife: Cupar, Anstruther and Crail (Explorer)

Ballinbreich Castle North Fife

Most days I travel to Newburgh and each time in passing I gaze at the ruins of this castle and think of the times when it was alive and vibrant. Apparently the stonework from the beginning was of unusually high standard and over time has been understandably robbed of choice pieces. Ballinbreich is one of the oldest celtic names in Fife and is a corruption of Balan-breac, meaning "town of trouts". This is of course a reference to the salmon to be found there, and even in modern times it has enjoyed the reputation of being a first class fishing station. Alas no longer as the nets have gone along with the decline of salmon and trout.


Ballinbreich (popularly Bambreich), a ruined ancient castle in Flisk parish, North Fife, on a steep bank overhanging the Firth of Tay, 2¾ miles NE of Newburgh. It was a parallelogram, 180 feet long by 70 wide, with an enclosed court; consisted, on three sides, of buildings four stories high, on the fourth side of a high curtain wall; was surrounded by a moat; and is now a mere shattered shell, of picturesque outline, embosomed in a small plantation. The Earls of Rothes long resided in it, and took from it the title Baron Ballinbreich (cre. 1457). The estate connected with it was purchased by Sir Lawrence Dundas, grandfather of the first Earl of Zetland. An ancient place of worship stood adjacent to the E side of the castle, on what is still called Chapel Hill.