What did you do in the storms? Like me, you probably felt sorry for the people whose property was damaged, as graphically illustrated in last week's 'Strathy'.
Newtonmore seemed to be hard hit, with trees down all over the village, and more between there and Kingussie. It was sad to see the demise of another old tree that used to form the boundary of the garden of the coaching inn at what is now Pitmain Farm.
If there is any benefit, at least the deer in the woods and horses in the fields will have a good chew at the buds and bark that has been brought down to within their reach.
So, what did I do in the storms? Several people have asked me if I got blown away at Cairngorm. The truth of the matter is that faced with an indefinite wait for power to be restored, my elderly neighbour and I went to stay with family in the gale-lashed West, where power was abundant, provided you weren't in one of the black spots.
On the way, we saw more than one scene of floodlit Hydro Engineers working heroically with diggers to fix faults. You know it's a bad one when they have to bring a digger in.
Our flit left the garden birds without their daily supply of oats, cheese and currants, though we left the nut feeders filled up.
It's quite a responsibility feeding the birds all winter, and we came back to it again two days later and soon had most of the regulars back. It's one of those jobs you can start any time, but once started, you need to keep going.
The possibility of disturbing wintering hedgehogs has prevented me from burning the piles of sticks and twigs in the garden. The sticks won't burn until they have dried out anyhow, and the shelter they might give to any small animals in the garden is probably quite welcome.
The Scottish SPCA has had a spate of young hedgehogs being handed in to them, and they are caring for 40 hedgehogs at the moment.
Most of them are too small to survive outside during the cold weather. Either they have been caught out by the bad weather and didn't have enough time to store up the necessary body fat to go into hibernation or they are from late litters, which are quite common.
Centre manager Colin Seddon said: "Hedgehogs should be hibernating by now, but there will be some out there who won't survive without help.
"These youngsters will be out foraging for food such as earthworms, beetles, slugs, snails, insects, fruit and carrion, but they'll be finding it very difficult because of the cold weather.
"Many of them have arrived weighing between 300g and 400g, almost half of their ideal weight.
"We would be particularly concerned if a hedgehog is out during the day and would urge anyone who finds one to call us so we can come and collect it."
He advises trying to contain it by picking it up using gardening gloves or a thick towel and placing it in a secure box. It can then be left with fresh water and tinned cat food until the SSPCA arrive.
Hedgehogs will struggle as the temperatures drop, so if you see one during the freezing winter weather you know it's in trouble.
SSPCA promise to release the hedgehogs once they achieve a suitable weight of over 600g and the weather warms up to give consistent night time temperatures of over four degrees centigrade. That could be June in the strath!
Anyone who finds a hedgehog this winter is urged to call the Animal Helpline on 03000 999 999.
MOUNTAIN wildlife is understandably a bit subdued in these wintry conditions, but the road just below the car park at Coire Cas has been a good place for variety lately.
On Saturday night there was a white hare sitting by the road, and this morning a weasel dashed across in front of me.
If you had asked me 10 years ago, I would have said that we had stoats, not weasels in this area, on account of the hard winters, but I have seen and heard of more weasels than stoats lately.
Perhaps there has been an invasion. They might be attracted by our hardy rabbit population on Cairn Gorm, which appeared with the railway builders.
If you are interested about the distribution of mammals in the North, a good start would be to consult the Atlas of Highland Land Mammals, which has just been published by the Highland Biological Recording Group, edited by Ro Scott.
The book documents the distribution of 37 species of land mammal that are regularly found in the Highlands with a map and short species account for each.
The text summarises information on appearance and signs, ecology and behaviour, conservation status, history in the Highland, past and present management, and hints on how to see the species.
The atlas is available, price £7 plus £1.50 p&p, from HBRG, Peddieston Cottage, Cromarty, IV11 8XX.
ANOTHER mammal to appear recently in the news is the beaver. The Scottish Beaver Trial in Knapdale might seem far away, but there was, at one time, some of us who thought that the Spey might make a good home for them.
So it is quite interesting to see what is really happening now the trial is over half way through.
There are four beaver families that have settled around lochs in Knapdale, two of which have had baby 'kits' for two years running. Some of the beavers have been making dams of twigs, though there seems to be little sign of wholesale tree felling.
A detailed scientific study of fish populations is under way. The first report found no obstacles to trout movement that had been built by beavers.
You can find out more by going to the website of the organisations managing the trial at www.scottishbeavers.org.uk.
The beaver re-introduction trial won this year's Lonely Planet Wildlife Comeback Award, and there has been good news of another more long-established species on a comeback.
The red kite reintroduction programme is arguably the most successful scheme of its type in the UK and perhaps also more widely in Europe. It is now estimated that following re-introductions, the UK holds between 7 and 10% of the world red kite population.
A new report on red kites, compiled by RSPB Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage that reveals that in 2011 there are 186 breeding pairs in Scotland, a rise of 22 on the previous year. During this year's breeding season, a record 314 young fledged, the highest since re-introductions began in Scotland in 1989.
For a while it seemed as though Badenoch and Strathspey was going to benefit from these re-introductions - as we may still do - but sightings recently have been occasional at best.
Highlights of the 2011 season included increased evidence of the breeding populations of red kites now merging. Wild-bred birds from Central Scotland and North Scotland were found breeding in Angus, with the first successful nesting of a pair of red kites in this district for nearly 150 years. And the species returned to the Cairngorms National Park following a successful breeding attempt on Deeside.
In North Scotland, red kite populations increased slightly from 51 breeding pairs to 53, but the evidence suggests that numbers are still being severely restricted due to illegal poisoning and other human killing.
We have to accept that the local population has been well surpassed by both the Central Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway populations.
What of the red kite heartland? Red kites never actually went extinct in mid Wales. Now Gigrin Farm, near Rhayader, a red kite feeding station, claims that you can see a few score or up to 600 (six hundred!). Perhaps that's where the Northern ones have gone.
This month's Country Diary was submitted by Nic Bullivant, Head Ranger of Cairngorm Mountain Ranger Service. If you would like to report something for inclusion in the Country Diary, please get in touch with Nic at (01479) 861327.
