A Warning

The southeastern sky just before nine this morning gave a clear warning of what is in store for us, not only Storm Isha which is due here in the early hours of tomorrow morning but also a series of depressions which are scheduled to follow through the week, all these hard on the heels of....

....last week's snow which, while still blanketing the higher bens, hasn't fully melted at sea level, leaving some nasty patches of black ice.

With the snow making walking difficult and a huge amount to do in the way of unpacking and sorting our possessions into our new house we've hardly been out for a walk in the last ten days so took the opportunity of this morning's sunshine to wander along the coast path towards Dunrobin Castle seeing....

....precious little in the way of wildlife along this shattered shore other than a grey heron, a couple of cormorants, a flock of a dozen or so redshanks, some gulls and a few rock pigeons, and....

....a handful of oystercatchers. Our feeling that the wildlife population has declined drastically in the last couple of years was echoed by the village's librarian, whom we met along the path and who is also a keen bird watcher.

That we have more windy weather to come in the next few days isn't good news for the beasts that are already struggling to survive.