Serious Snow

Last night some serious snow arrived as we were heading for bed and by morning we had a good three inches with more arriving in occasional showers. Fortunately the night was still otherwise we would also have had some nasty drifting but, as it was, the snow was light and powdery and began to thaw almost as soon as the sun got out of bed.

This is unpleasant weather for small birds so they had an extra ration of seed in their jackdaw-proof feeding area, and had the ice broken on their drinking dishes. In the garden this morning we welcomed sparrows, dunnocks, greenfinches, chaffinches, blackbirds, robins, blue, coal and great tits and a lone collared dove; and chased away about six jackdaws.

As the day wore on so the snowshowers increased, coming in at us over Beinn Bhraggie; and by four in the afternoon., even though the sun was still out, the air temperature had already dropped below zero, so this is setting out to be a bitter night.

Amazingly, and cheerfully, the first garden flowers, including daffodils and polyanthus, are in bloom despite the snow and the freezing temperatures.