A Month of Contrasts

January brought a month of contrasts to the weather experienced on the reserve, with three named storms, a significant spell of cold, wintry weather and finally some exceptionally mild warm days for January.

Temperatures have really fluctuated throughout the month, with mild and windy weather interrupted by a cold, dry and still spell resulting in heavy snow. To cap it all at the end of month we experienced some of Scotland’s highest winter temperatures on record, courtesy of the Foehn effect.

This month we’ve seen clearly how cold northerly winds can bring winter challenges. At the same time a snow clad reserve is simply beautiful.

Across the week 17 cm of snow fell on the reserve.

The Vat entrance. The sun struggles to penetrate into the Vat leading to this artic blue light

A snowy and frozen loch Kinord is endlessly watchable beneath arctic blue skies

When the wind skims the snow it moves over the loch like sidewinding snakes

Mute swan families out on the ice on loch Davan

The snows were followed by fierce Atlantic westerlies which brought some fiendishly high gusts, breaking up the frozen lochs to create these mesmerising flows of ice shards.

This beautiful scene was short lived and spectacular. Wind and wave action pushed the melting ice onto the north east shore line, fracturing it into sharp pieces called shard ice. 

The sound of ice shards lapping the shoreline is truly unique – like a thousand tinkling wind chimes.

Some of our rarer inhabitants took instant advantage of the open water to resume fishing.

Thanks as always to a regular walker for these amazing images taken of 2 otter on Loch Kinord- appearing just so relaxed and at ease.

Although the otter is a large and powerful mammal, they do seem to have an endearing sense of curiosity and play.

Otters are well suited to a life on the water as they have webbed feet, dense fur to keep them warm, and can close their ears and nose when underwater.

They require clean rivers, with an abundant source of food and plenty of vegetation to hide their secluded holts.. Both lochs provide this in abundance as so are designated Special Areas of Conservation – because of their thriving population of otters which move between the lochs and for their pristine clear water with fens and reedbeds.

I was entertained by a male Goosander taking/ fighting with a fair sized eel in waterlily bay . These handsome diving ducks are a member of the sawbill family, named for their serrated bills, used for expertly catching fish

Male goosander

When the winds die down there is a sense of spring in the air and warmth at last in the winter sun. We can experience the most perfect winters days here with cold crisp starts turning into crystal clear blue skies and wall to wall sunshine.

There is a captivating word – Apricity – which uniquely refers to the consoling warmth of the sun on a cold winters day.

This term beautifully captures the essence of the winter sun’s delicate touch, offering respite from the chilly air and a momentary reprieve from the winter doldrums.

One of the first signs of spring, dainty snowdrops have erupted in our aspen woodland. pushing there way through a layer of decaying brown litter. While not native to these shores, these hardy flowers have become a familiar indicator of the shifting seasons and a sure sign that warmer weather is on its way.