If you saw my last blog you will realise that Winter is fully upon us and we were informed that our weather was going to improve from today and over the weekend. Rain and strong winds coming over the Atlantic rather than from the north. So imagine our surprise in waking up to a further two inches of snow and overnight temperatures of minus eight. But once again it is a wonderful sunny morning , which I would prefer over rain.
19th.
Though we had plenty of Fieldfares fly through early in the winter , one has remained with us and is very nervous, so I had to take this one of it mopping up our berries through the bedroom window and it would not turn and face me.
At the moment it is two degrees under freezing and as you are aware throughout this week it has been even colder, but these contractors have been in everyday building this new fence half a mile across the glen from us. They must be going home each day frozen through to their bones but they have virtually completed their task. Well done to them. Only selfish problem for us is above that stone wall is normally where the Red Deer Stags come to feed under these conditions and we have not seen them because of the activity.
30th.
Sorry for not many sections in this end of January blog, but we have a few problems and was not really in the mood to go out and take any photos.
The last week have been the most unusual I have experienced while living in Scotland, at the end of last week the west coast of the country experienced the warmest January temperature ever recorded at nineteen C , we even were into plus eleven. This of course gives you false hope of a spell of decent weather, but no, yesterday morning we wake up to minus eight and had been down to minus ten in the night. Now this morning it was plus eight, not snow but heavy rain and wind, totally all over the place. So initially I intended to show you some shots of signs of Spring and then back with vengeance comes Winter.
In the sunlight the Beech looking golden.
Daffodils poking through the ground.
Then the frost comes and the ground colour suddenly changes
The merging Snowdrops start to think “should I come out”?
I left the car out of the garage and wish I hadn’t.
The frost is on the summerhouse windows again.
The Lambs Ear looks more like Polar Bears.
The shrubs are in bud but white.
Seed heads left for the birds are camouflaged.
So overall a miserable week or so, but that is January out of the way, the days are getting longer and hopefully Spring will be around the corner, please.