A touch of spring

bogtrotter

Well-Known Member
Still bitterly cold up here with snow on the hills but noticed today a shimmer of green on the larch trees that was not there yesterday, though winter is reluctant to let go its grip of the land , spring will slowly but surely gain the upper hand.
 
Should be coming up near you this weekend ,is it worth it? Have you managed to get out on the bucks yet bogtrotter?
 
Should be coming up near you this weekend ,is it worth it? Have you managed to get out on the bucks yet bogtrotter?

No not yet first clients not until mid May, I have seen one clean buck so far and in another area saw some fraying but the majority are still in velvet.
 
Hi bogtrotter our land is about 4 miles top side of The Bridge of Cally is it ok there and how much snow is expected this weekend? We have not been able to get on the land since before Christmas I was looking forward to the trip and then saw the weather.
 
Bridge of Cally is quite a bit from me 70 miles or so, but looking at the forecast you could be OK they are saying cloudy with rain showers , sunny intervals on Saturday and temp between 10 and 12 degrees which does not sound to bad.


My Grandson is a keeper in one of the Angus glens not that far as the crow flies from where you will be, he says that while they still have some snow on the high ground , and are still getting the odd wintry flurry its improving daily.
 
Hi all. Out stalking Monday eve and mentioned to my stalking mate that the Roe were still in their winter coats. His reply was "So are we". Made me chuckle.
 
Been absolutely amazing down in Poole

No rain and everybody looking like tomato heads with the sunburn..

Your in a different world down there, that big yellow thing that we last saw about six months ago is in the sky today warm if you are out of this bl**dy wind, but at least its no longer out of the East which it was for weeks.
 
Well the snow has retreated just a few patches here and there, and in the corries where it will stay for a while yet
probably into June before it disappears completely, no swallows yet that is later than normal, usually around 26th -27th April before they arrive here, but here we are last day of the month and no sign of them yet, doubt if there is any insect life to support them yet.

Saw the first wild primroses in flower today, though again a week or so later than I would normally expect to see them.
 
Russian scientists, who have been maintaining this or something similar to it for a long time now, believe there is now fairly firm evidence of us entering a period of reduced output from the sun. I see NASA have also jumped on the bandwagon.

Cooling in the Arctic: what to expect? : The Voice of Russia: News, Breaking news, Politics, Economics, Business, Russia, International current events, Expert opinion, podcasts, Video

Solar Variability and Terrestrial Climate - NASA Science

If we are entering a Maunder Minimum, and the science is firming up, we are in pretty big trouble. As the Russians point out they are preparing for it by building ice breakers and so on but any country that based some part of its energy policy on the rantings and lies of the green nutters isn't going to have its sorrows to seek.

​In terms of stalking it will be interesting to see the impact it will have on the less hardy non-native species like CWD and muntjac, I wonder if they can survive in the UK in the face of sustained and significant cooling?
 
Hi bogtrotter our land is about 4 miles top side of The Bridge of Cally is it ok there and how much snow is expected this weekend? We have not been able to get on the land since before Christmas I was looking forward to the trip and then saw the weather.

So where are you? I'm 3 miles N of Bof C....beautiful day today...apart from clouds of smoke from my out of control fire...cold wind, frost, but nice , bucks nearly clean
 
'​In terms of stalking it will be interesting to see the impact it will have on the less hardy non-native species like CWD and muntjac, I wonder if they can survive in the UK in the face of sustained and significant cooling?'

With any luck, no.
 
Spent the day drilling wheat today , rushing to get it in before the rain comes back
at the end of the week, also noticed the patches of snow have disappeared off the
​surrounding hills
 
Yesterday saw the first two swallows and heard the first cuckoo, later than last year. What I was pleased about was that on Monday I saw a Red Kite it was only at tree top level in the garden, not seen one further North than the Alness area before.

John
 
Its certainly a strange year JAYB no swallows here yet and I am considerably further South than you are, see plenty of Kites not at all rare here.

Have a pair of Ospreys that nest not far from here, have been seeing one fishing in the Loch every day for the last three weeks,but only the one usually see the pair fishing together up until she starts sitting, so not sure if we have a breeding pair or not this year.

Have the usual birds feeding in the garden Finches, Tits etc. quite common to have the odd Siskin feeding with them, but I have never seen so many the feeders are mobbed with them, they are out numbering all the other birds, wonder why there are so many, normally a bird of the conifer forests while resident in Scotland those seen further South are usually winter visitors, wonder if we have also had a big influx of migrants.
 
Its certainly a strange year JAYB no swallows here yet and I am considerably further South than you are, see plenty of Kites not at all rare here.

Have a pair of Ospreys that nest not far from here, have been seeing one fishing in the Loch every day for the last three weeks,but only the one usually see the pair fishing together up until she starts sitting, so not sure if we have a breeding pair or not this year.

Have the usual birds feeding in the garden Finches, Tits etc. quite common to have the odd Siskin feeding with them, but I have never seen so many the feeders are mobbed with them, they are out numbering all the other birds, wonder why there are so many, normally a bird of the conifer forests while resident in Scotland those seen further South are usually winter visitors, wonder if we have also had a big influx of migrants.

It was an odd year feeding the birds this year, normally i can't put the niger seed out quick enough, topping up three feeders with it everyday, we usually have alot of siskins, goldfinch and redpolls, this year there was a distinct lack of all three, only in the last couple of weeks have we seen the odd pair of goldfinchs ( i think now breeding pairs moving into area) and siskin coming and there was one redpoll yesterday for the first time since i started feeding this winter.
I normally stop feeding at the end of March but kept going into the first two weeks of April, as we were still getting snow and hard frost and its only whats left in the niger feeders that the goldies and siskins are getting as they sat all winter full with nothing touching them.
Although we did have about 20 bramblings, usually get the odd one in among the chaffinches, all winter and only leaving about a week ago, the males were turning into there breeding colours.

​Moose
 
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