Well, it’s snowed this week, And, boy, did it snow on Monday, for 12 hours solid. It’s been a long time since we had such a prolonged snow ‘shower’ and it dumped several inches of snow on the reserve. While the roads are a pain (when the weather people say ‘icy on untreated surfaces’, it pretty much describes my journey to work), it makes the reserve look so beautiful. I do like the snow, it seems to wipe the world clean for a wee while and hide all the man-made stuff in the landscape. Many thanks to Rachel for supplying most of the pictures in this week’s blog.
Snowy waymarker
Snowy trees
Snowy tree stump
Snowy bushes
The trees look amazing with all the snow caught on the branches – a beautiful monochrome world that, later on, when the sun came out, turned dazzlingly white and blue.
Snow on birch trees
Trees flattened with snow
Snowy birch
The cold weather has at least partially frozen the lochs. You get some fantastic patterns in the ice.
Loch Kinord with snowy hills behind
Snowy Loch Kinord
Snowy Kinord
Snowy rushes
Ice on loch
The ducks don’t approve of the their world being made smaller by the lochs freezing. But it can be a good time to see them as they often sit out on the ice.
Ducks and swans on the ice
And, if you want a bit of innocent amusement, just watch them trying to get around on the ice on webbed feet. Here’s a video from a couple of years back of two whooper swans trying and failing to walk on the ice. https://www.facebook.com/muirofdinnetnnr/videos/245451829507497/
Walking on ice isn’t easy.
It’s a massive contrast to the conditions that they’ve been having 35 miles away on the coast. I’ve been grumbling that I can’t get at the muirburn and my colleagues at Forvie sent me this picture…look, no snow!
Looking out onto Forvie beach
From the weather forecast, it looks like all the snow will be gone by next week, so we might as well make the best of it while we can. Here’s a few pictures to finish with of some snowy scenes.
Snowy boardwalk footsteps
Snowy Vat
Frozen Loch Davan and snowy Morven
Snowy trees on Monday
Snow shadows
Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve 