Saturday, February 18, 2012

What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday (Friday ) was cold, mainly fine with a stiff wind from the north west. The early morning had several Robins in song, sub song from a Yellowhammer and lots of local bird activity along the lane leading down to the Beauly Firth. Numbers and variety were good , and whilst the temperatures were low, it did feel as if the year was "moving on" to some extent. Hazel catkins were in evidence and a couple of flower sprays shone yellow in the roadside Gorse.

By contrast, this morning was bitter with a strengthening wind and developing snow showers , which then went on all day, although none settled. There was no celebratory song welcoming this reversal in fortunes and very few birds were noted. Last evening, immediately after dark, there had been a lot of shooting down on the Firth which had probably disturbed the geese as none were seen or could be heard from their local feeding areas, until three parties overflew the house in the late morning.  Successive waves of snow showers, overcast conditions resulting in poor visibility, didn't improve things either and birdlife was hardly a feature of the day at all!

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