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I arrived early for a meeting in Stirling, after a horrendous journey through fog and torrential rain, and the sun came out, so I decided to take a walk around the Wallace monument. Up at the top, it was bitterly cold, with a dramatic front moving across the flood plain, leaving half of the scenery blotted out with fog, and the rest side-lit with low winter sunshine. On the walk up/down Abbey Craig, on which the monument sits, there are a number of wood carvings which are designed to tell the history of the area, from the ice age through to the building of the Monument. Designed by Iain Chalmers, they are made mainly out of cedar wood. They include some local wildlife such as squirrels and (historically) bears. Some of the trees have been recently felled, showing their vivid orange heartwood (possibly Douglas Fir?). The slices of wet bark are like tooled leather, absolutely beautiful.

A friend and I went to Binny Plants today. While she looked around to try to decide on some new shrubs, I explored the walled garden and glasshouses, looking at the dead vegetation left over from summer. There was a huge variety of seed-heads, some very beautiful in their details, and I was delighted to discover a nest suspended between two pieces of tall grass on the bank of the burn. Not sure what built it, but it was a deep cup lined with moss - perhaps a wren? (Thing I learned - it's the male wren who builds several nests, hoping to entice a mate to choose one).

Much tea-drinking for warmth, and more polytunnel bed maintenance, supervised by a friendly and hungry robin, who looks more like a wren, he's so fluffed up. Slight snow on the ground, frosty light, and so cold a barrow of compost containing potatoes, which had been in the polytunnel for a week, was frozen solid. The robin was happy when we unearthed some worms for him - he is quite tame now, comes right up to peoples' feet sometimes, and flits in and out of the open door as the mood takes him. The chickens are still roosting in the apple trees at night rather than in their cosy straw-filled henhouse, silly things.

To Beechbrae, for an extended 'Branching Out' groups reunion, in the aftermath of storm Isha, and just before storm Jocelyn. Pretty soggy underfoot, among the younger trees, but between us all, working in teams, we planted about 20m of mixed hedge in jig time, leaving lots of time for a much needed hot drink and a catch-up, since our group leader hadn't thought to instruct us about any other jobs we could do :)

Hard labour for our large group today, cutting back the vegetation near the main track around the woodland, to make way for a tractor which is digging a trench to lay pipework for the woodland centre, to improve the water supply. Plenty of practice with bow saws (branches over wrist thick), pruning knives (under wrist thick), loppers (thumb thick) and secateurs (finger thick max).

Today I made my first attempt at a cyanotype picture. This specially-coated paper is light-sensitive, and produces beautiful prints if you lay vegetation such as ferns on top of it, so that some areas are shielded from exposure, and the rest turns a beautiful bright blue when rinsed in cold water to 'fix' it. Results vary according to the light - development took much longer in the weak winter sun than the instructions implied (>30 mins v 10 usually) but I was pleased with the result. I used various bits and bobs from the garden - ivy, seeds, a snowdrop or two, tiny ferns. That's mum's birthday card sorted - she loves snowdrops, and a handmade card is nicer than a shop-bought one.

A very enjoyable day being introduced to the craft of whittling today. I learned lots about making spatulas and spoons, but I was inspired to make a wooden fish for my downstairs loo, which will soon be redecorated with an undersea theme) (final pic shows finished item on 21 Feb). This was a bigger and chunkier project than most others', so I didn't get very far, it will need to be finished at home. I also learned about correct sharpening - my mind was blown by the discovery that you can sharpen tools on a strop made from a fungus, birch polyphore, which grows on dead or dying birch trees. We were each gifted a fresh slice of fungus for future use. I will now be more confident about trying whittling by myself, and taking care of my beginner's blades.