Northernlights

Some passing flakes just now.A real chill to the wind as well.

Hills round about white too over 800 feet. We have the merest of dustings with blue skies, a fresh breeze and a temperature of 1.5c just now

Yes cold wind here too. Mostly dull with a few spots of rain in the morning.Currently 5.5c

Cold wet day with a NE wind off the Firth. Currently 5c

Yes most winter crops are a month ahead of normal in terms of growth. Woud be looking for these flowers to be pollinated by bees just now so if it turns cold/frosty then they won"t so these flowerheads will not produce a lot of seed but having said that oilseed rape has tremendous powers of recovery so will probably set more flowers in April. Another problem for winter wheat /barley is that fungal diseases started to appear on new growth in the last two weeks which would have needed controlling if the weather stayed warm and my agronomist was worried that he would have to convince farmers to spray five times for these diseases between now and July instead of the usual three or four times. Cold weather will halt these diseases.Severe bare frost would be the worst weather now for all crops including grass as growth was soft and easily damaged or killed. Currently overcast and 5c

Down to Perth yesterday for farm dinner at Perth and there was just a dusting on Braeriach but today on the return journey there was good covering of snow down to about 2000 feet Had a bit of rain over the weekend at home but soil still dry. Currently 6c and clear.

Quite interesting to watch all the farmers round about refrain from sowing into ideal ground conditions and weather. Probably all saying to themselves its still February but I suspect there will be some that will start. In fact the ground is so dry now it might be slow to germinate. Pigeons still eating tops on neeps so a sign to me that they are still short of other food. Wintering sheep getting fresh grass and not needing neeps so far. High cloud cleared this afternoon so fabulous blue skies and very mild this afternoon but feels like it will be a cooler night ,currently 7c

In shirtsleeves bedding the cattle yesterday.Will indeed be a shock to the system for all creatures next week. Nature really out of tune now.Will be some nasty viruses that will take advantage of this next week. Hearing from some horse owners that laminitis is braking out rendering a lot of horses very lame caused by the sudden lush growth of grass in their fields and paddocks. Their feet swell and become very sore. Currently overcast ,dry and 13c

Normal service has resumed back down to 2c this morning though with wall to wall blue skies, sunshine and no wind.

Yes a very mild night but we still have the wind which has howled round the house all night. Not easy to sleep never thought I would say that in February. Currently 13.5c

Just been outside and it is still very windy also amazingly warm at 14.5c. Because of the wind passenger aircraft are coming right over us to land at Inverness airport nearly every half hour a big diffrence from my chilhood when it was only the odd military aircraft primarily the Shackletons from Kinloss.

Howling wind here too not much sleep last night.Currently overcast and 11c

My new profile photo shows snow shower coming in off the Firth from the north on the 26th of April 2016. Still time for snow up here this spring. Today just seemed wrong.

16c here and the crocuses loving it. Me not so much away for a shower after feeding and bedding inside cattle.

The sixties were good sledging winters.Used to set a run up in a field in front of the house on a north facing slope with sticks and string usually at the end of November with the first snow which would become compacted and then very icy during a thaw and then create a superb run with the next snowfall in a pattern repeated till early March. Winters are much shorter today although back then we still had periods of thaw but snow remained on north facing aspects.

Yes bedding cattle today inside was a horrible sweaty job, just not right. Makes this grumpy old farmer even grumpier.

Another very windy day mild and humid with periods of sunshine and a maximum of 13.5c. Finding a bit trying with all the grit in the air irritating the eyes.

Less windy today and curently 7c Saw the first lapwing over the fields today but no sign of any oyster catchers. A bit of a surprise was seeing quite a number of ladybirds, a left over from last summer possibly when the grain was full of them. Seem some folk want to reintroduce lynx .Would they be an apex predator and help to control the badger numbers as well as the deer?

Another windy morning .The weather has been in this rut nearly all last autumn and winter.Seems to be the default pattern now with damaging southerly winds every month since September.Cooler today at 5c

Gale force southerly wind now with sunny intervals at 14 c and RH of 26% .Fields drying up in front of our eyes with large areas now a powdery surface. Dust blowing off the farm tracks.

What a turnround wintering sheep now grazing spring grass. Cattle inside going from once a day bedding to every second day as air is so dry the folds are drying up.Cows had a bite of spring grass yesterday as they cleaned up the edges of the neep field,daffodils up 3 inches in the last few days.Maybe we will have some straw and hay left over this winter. Really feels like mid April the inner pessimist in me screams DROUGHT if this keeps up but the optomist says we"ll get two weeks of snowfall in April like 1968 to keep the drought at bay. Really feel for the ski resorts. Currently 12c and overcast.

Very windy again with bright sunshine RH of 25% and currently 14c feels really unseasonal. Fields getting dusty on the surface.Grass starting to green up.

Here the wind is still howling, its currently 11c and the RH is down tonight to 21% The ground surface is drying up very rapidly even after the last few weeks of rain/snow. A newly ploughed next to us of red clay is coming up crumbly with no sign of smeared wet furrows. A very unusual event for mid February so at least locally the ground is looking very dry just below the surface. If and its not a big if then the dust storms will occur again in March/April in newly sown fields on the sandy areas next to the sea on the south side of the Moray Firth.

13c again today and a very strong south wind.Ground drying up very fast . RH of 55% .Still have concerns about soil moisture levels this coming summer. Another season of extreme weather?

Strong southerly wind off the Cairngorms bright sunshine and 13.5c. The famous Nairnshire climate .The Riviera of the North Spring is here but unlikely to stay. One sheep this morning was doing a seies of four legs off the ground jumps for about five minutes really enjoying the day.