Queen’s View and Pitlochry Fish Ladder

It snowed today!  We went to Queen’s View which is apparently one of the most photographed views in Scotland. It was beautiful in the snow.

Sister and family:

Me and family:

Sister and father:

Ben got his obligatory “bored in the snow” photo.

I got my usual “excited in the snow” photo.

Afterwards we went to see the fish ladder at Pitlochry. We’ve been there before but I still find the place fascinating. Pitlochry has a hydro-electric power station that was built in the 1950s. Due to an Act of Parliament in 1943, all hydro-electric power stations were required by law to preserve fish stocks and so a fish ladder was constructed alongside the power plant to allow salmon and other fish to swim past unharmed. There’s a counter at the power station which counts the number of fish; it’s currently at 6,449.

Here’s a close-up of the fish ladder.

The dam on the other side.

A selfie.

We saw some fish in the dam which seemed a bit strange. There were three about the same size as this one in the next photo. I think it’s a salmon. I don’t think this is typical as I’ve never seen a salmon hanging around the surface like this – maybe it was sick?

Here’s the power station from a distance.