Snowstorm to Suntan

By yesterday lunchtime the snow had begun to ease and, in some places, what was lying had already started to thaw. This is the view up the Ormsaigbeg road around one o'clock, showing that not a single vehicle had passed that way during the morning.

On the Ardnamurchan Campsite one camper had braved the snowstorm, and even began to enjoy something of the view across the Sound of Mull that he had paid for.

In Ormsaigbeg the snow reached a depth of 2", but far more must have fallen and steadily thawed as, at 8am this morning, the rain gauge had recorded 28mm in the previous 24 hours, enough to have made a good 10" of snow. The bird table did brisk business all day, while....

....Kilchoan Early Bird found this song thrush chick already out of its nest and, as he described it, being, "well fed by mum." This must be the first chick fledged and out of the nest, definitely an example of an early bird.

By the time this morning's first ferry departed from Mingary Pier for Tobermory the sky had begun to clear, the wind had settled into the north, and blue sky had begun to replace yesterday's uniform grey. As can be seen, Mull had a good coating of snow: that's Beinn Talaidh in the centre distance.

The sky cleared steadily with the morning. The Raptor was out recording the view from Pier Road across Kilchoan Bay to Ormsaigbeg, with hardly a cloud in the sky.

He also managed to get a couple of pictures of a small bird which I saw as I passed but failed to snap - a grasshopper warbler, named for its song which sounds just like.... a grasshopper.

Yesterday the temperate struggled to 4C and fell overnight to 1C. As the blue sky allowed the sun to warm the land, and despite a chill north wind, the temperature soared to 15C. The snow melted quickly, disappearing first around the Ferry Stores and along towards the Kilchoan Hotel, and then melting steadily up the hillsides. By early afternoon we were sitting out on the front terrace working up a suntan.

Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird and the Raptor for their pictures.