I can see the differences in winters the short time (18years) we have been living here in Perthshire, by this time of the year looking back at old photos I can see we would have had a fair few decent falls of snow. Plus it would have been a lot colder during the daytime, though we have had a fair few nights dipping below zero, come daybreak it is normally above. Plenty of rainy days which in the past would have been snow, but overall a lot milder. The problem with this is it means that I have had more than normal tasks dedicated to me by SWMBO & that has included giving the many evergreen shrubs a trim, so below I have included a few of my efforts with the electric hedge trimmer.
Normally by the end of October the local shepherd takes his flock of sheep away from the field in front of the house to fields lower & closer to his farm for the winter, but as he had been in hospital for a while they were a little late in leaving us this year & only went last week. Though the wife often jokes that they are the only thing (apart from me of course) that she has to speak to in our remote spot, it is surprising how we do miss them when they are gone. Each year you can see some of the individual traits that they have, Who are the first up in the mornings, who picks the best sheltered sleeping spots & of course with any group of females, who is in charge. Though it is not often amongst humans you see the best head butter is in charge, a bit more subtle than that normally.
You will see from the shots further down that we have now got replacement companions, which we have purchased carrot for, but they are a bit reluctant to come anywhere near us at present.
Have included a shot of the castle to show you the last dregs of Autumn, plus a view of winter on the hills.
After cutting, I tend to place the tarp below the tree so that the wife does not have to rake loads up of the ground it is already to put into sacks.
Trouble is you do the first one & the one behind looks scruffy & you have to cut that next. The weird branch coming out of the evergreen is in fact a feeding station, there are normally two mugs (just one half way along) & they get filled daily with seed & everything from the squirrels to most birds really enjoy feeding from them.
First of the 4 horses that have replaced the sheep, I think a couple of them are ridden & the others either are companion horses or not been broken in.
Two of this type of ponies in the four, don’t ask me to tell which is which as they are near identical to my untrained eye.
This one is very much like the Highland ponies they use for bringing the dead stags down off the hills after the days shooting, again not sure if it is a Highland.
The other “brown” one, always lying down this one.
A definite bond between them all, as we often see them all together like this.
The Blair Castle showing up so well on a dull day but surrounded by beauty.
Finally an early morning shot of the sun just hitting the hill tops with a good dusting of snow on them.