I received an email today from Rolf Wahl who told me his first osprey had arrived at the Orleans Forest breeding sites in France. It doesn’t look like that here, as we’ve just had another 2 feet of snow in the most horrible north-east blizzards. At the beginning of the week it was -14C and I took the attached photograph at Lochindorb on my way home from a beaver meeting in Edinburgh. To think that ospreys might be fishing in the loch in a month’s time, yet at the moment it is covered in snow and goodness knows how thick is the ice, probably a foot or so, and it will take a long time to thaw. It’s already the worst winter for 30 years or more, and it’s been very hard on wildlife. Woodcock were badly affected with many reported dead down on the coastal plain, the grouse have not seen fresh heather for nearly 2 months, so many of them must have died and I’d be surprised if we’ll see many barn owls and wrens in the spring. But at least the evenings are lengthening and soon our ospreys will be migrating north, and another wonderful spring will start.
Lochindorb ice bound and covered in snow
