I cannot believe the weather we are having, seven days (so far) of sunny, dry days. Temperatures going up to nineteen C, but each day is followed by night and though the clear skies have been amazing for our no light polluted sky, it means the temperature has plummeted to below zero every night , so far minus five being the lowest. How temperatures can fluctuate like this I do not know, but as I am tucked up in a nice warm bed at night and once the sun comes up , it warms up, I am happy.
The signs of things to come I hope?
4th.
The birds seem to be pairing up as this couple of Chaffinches eye each other up.
The first shot of a butterfly this year, I hope to see more as all types are sadly in decline throughout the U.K.
5th.
Another first, this time the first Brown Trout to come to my fly, roughly nine inches long it was returned to fight another day when it get’s bigger.
Just liked this last years leaf looking dry but in one piece laying in the sunshine.
In a previous blog I wrote about the resilience of Snowdrops recovering from snow and frosts, but here our a bunch of our Daffodils drooped first thig after a minus three C overnight, only by midday back up and looking proud.
So proud that my red Trillion has decided to bloom for another year, three petals, a series of three leaves, hence the name.
6th.
Further signs of Spring growth, the Lilac tree and our climbing Rose showing signs of new life.
7th.
Signs of time to move on. Drew back the curtains to see what the day had to offer and way off in the far distance I saw these. Geese heading due North back to their Summer feeding grounds, such a great sight and even better when they are nearer and you can hear their chatter.
8th.
Went for a walk today as the wonderful weather continues, just up the hill to capture some woodland in the sun.
The view West over our home, way down in the valley.
Started at this memorial stone, the explanation for it is in the next shot.
A lone Scot’s Pine.
Liked this shot as it looked like the fallen trees branches was protecting the tree. Though as you can see from the height of the first branches the Deer and the cattle have eaten anything lower than they can reach.
Love the way the Silver Birch have colonised areas and due to their closeness stunted their growth.
A mature tree that has broken off at the top. You can just see the path up the Munro in the top right of the picture.
A soul Wood Anemone or Wind Flower as it is also known in the woodland catching the afternoon sun.
12th.
I cannot understand why Fritillaria’s hang down, nature should make them show off their interior’s as you can see the inside of the broken one that I placed on the grass, above. I love the different shades and colours of their petals, we don’t have many in the garden but what we do have I love. The last shot is the Forsythia just on it’s way into bloom, the rest of the plant has more flowers but I thought this by itself was the better shot than a blur of yellow.
Though the garden needs it I think the sunny days are about to give way to some rain, hope the lovely weather wasn’t our Summer?
13th.
Went out for coffee then out for a wee ride around the area, just the few pockets of snow on the hills and showing the height we climbed to above the winding road.
Four Highland ponies in the first shot the one on the right has not got rid of it’s winter coat yet.In the background is the dam on Loch Errochty part of the hydro electric network.
The spectacular views over the moors and in the middle shot the new forest starting to grow.
A Mistle Thrush from a long way off and cropped the shot, it would not turn to face me.
14th.
The Crow and the Jackdaw sit on these power lines every morning and wake us with their calling, trouble is with the lighter mornings it is getting to early and wakes us up.
A rare sight seeing this nocturnal creature during the daytime, this was only four thirty pm and is normally a sign they are feeding youngsters. Not sure we have seen this particular Pine Martin before, just look at the length of it’s tail.