Tracks

Had it not been for occasional thaws which have come with the sunny intervals we'd have accumulated a good foot or so of snow in the last few days, and the wind, which has come and gone, has further complicated things by reorganising the snow into drifts - but this is the deepest snow we've seen in our years in Scotland, and the last time we saw as deep was when we lived in Essex in the 1990s.

Time was, on such a day of snow showers and sunshine, when we'd have set off into the hills to enjoy the excitement of this rare phenomenon. These days we take care, walking a mile or so along a gentle track. That our horizons are so limited doesn't spoil our enjoyment, for snow like this produces tracks, the records of animals which have passed this way since the snow stopped. In the field above our house it was....

....a flock of sheep which made the tracks for, despite the food provided by the farmer, they still like to dig for fresh grass. In other places the tracks were more fun, like....

....these ones which walked up to a fence and carried on the other side. From their size it seems likely that these were left by two roe deer.