April Snow

The wind has been in the north for the last few days, a direction which brings us fine but cool weather, but we woke this morning to find snow on Ben Hiant, snow which was soon....

....falling in big, slushy flakes down to sea level. Suddenly, birds which have recently been spurning our offerings of food were back at the feeders in numbers, particularly the goldfinches.

We don't have much snow here even during the winter, so this has been a bit of a shock. By nine o'clock it was settling on the lower hills, including Glas Bheinn, but the chill damp....

....was miserable for the sheep and their lambs. These lambs are fairly big, but most flocks are coming towards the peak of the lambing, and this is the worst weather for them.

Cameron Beccario's superb surface winds map - here - shows that these northerlies are bringing down an airmass which has been sitting over Spitsbergen, way above the Arctic circle. Little wonder we're getting snow.

Optimistically, we were planting onion sets yesterday morning, and we've been picking salad leaves from the greenhouse for a few days, leaves grown in a fish box washed up on the Ormsaigbeg shore which has 'Not for Unauthorised Use' written on the side. The owners are welcome to pick it up, and the half-dozen others we have, as is....

....the owner of this flotation pod. It was washed up recently and rescued by Alasdair Thornton at Cruachan croft in Ormsaigbeg. It's waiting for collection right beside the road.