Thawsome!

It's February and so technically still Wintertime, but it's icy charms are beginning to pall now and I'm really looking forward to the Spring.  The snow and ice have been great, but with temperatures well below or around freezing for a couple of weeks it was all getting a bit tiresome.  I wonder how the peoples of the Frozen North cope?  The lakes were frozen solid and I was oh so tempted to step out onto them and go for a skate.  I know, I know, that'd be a mad and dangerous thing to do, but still....  Bob offered to shove me out in the boat and I excitedely imagined whizzing across the ice like a human puck, but then he didn't seem to have made any provision for my safe return to shore so I had to reluctantly decline....



No Fishing, No Human Pucks



Great weather for spotting wildlife though, lots of hungry little birds deciding to take the risk and come a bit closer than normal to us, maybe preferring our company to a hen harrier (I think it was..)  and a splendid fox with a great bushy tail who we spotted slinking about in the forest.   We saw plenty of deer, and their tracks in the snow were everywhere, right up to the door of the cabin.   Now, the ice is finally melting and cracking, splintering noises can be heard echoing eerily across the lake.   It feels, almost, like Spring is on it's way, Yay!



Snowy Deer (Use yer bino's - it's there somewhere!)







Timelapse Leafwatch 2011

So anyway, that turbine I mentioned in my last post turned out to be complete rubbish and had to be replaced with yet another one - which is working great! 

Just when I thought we'd got away with a mild Winter this time around and the buds were getting ready to burst with a portent of Spring, Winter has stomped back in with his big snowy boots on, accompanied by a blast of arctic winds and icy temperatures. However, this has presented us with an opportunity/excuse to stay indoors a lot and sort out our pics and work on some new ideas.

A few months ago we set up our timelapse camera to record a view of the lake as the Autumn leaves changed, and below you can see the results.  We had over 800 pics to choose from and it's been interesting (for us, anyway!) to see the leaves and raindrops come and go on the lake, the amazing diversity of skies and watching the little branch in the foreground losing its leaves.  Some shots captured the beautiful misty mornings and even reflections of vapour trails in the skies above. Others recorded some stunning sunsets. I'm in the process of choosing my favourites and will post them soon....