Northernlights

I think there were probably more locals but with the chance of cheaper more willing labour from eastern europe farmers under pressure to provide cheaper and cheaper crops employed them in spite of the fact that the money they earnt here was probably worth several times more when they took it home because of currency advantages. I have said to a friend who employs a lot on his farm that if he paid local folk three times the going rate here he would get plenty of local UK pickers.

Nice day here too young Mr. Northernlights taking off more stones this afternoon but ground still a bit wet and cold in places.We have the first daffodil out on the farm road next to a south facing dyke in the middle of a bramble patch so very sheltered .I would think almost a month behind recent years. Currently overcast and 6c.

Still practise an old fashioned 7 course rotation here of 3 years grass, 3 years barley and one year roots (Swedes) . On my travels yesterday saw several roe deer grazing a grass field, Partridge in the last acre of neeps, a young hare(leveret) in the old stackyard and a pair of buzzards hunting near the woods. Still have a pheasant coming to bird feeder every morning/. Currently clear bright and 4c with a ground frost

Fine day here too with just a few very light showers. Ground starting to dry again. but this evening it was cooler with wintry looking showers on the horizon. Currently clear calm and 3c

A third BT engineer arrived today early am and tested line no dial tone or broadband.Yipee a definite fault. Turns out it was a bit of broken insulation on the line on the farm road.This intermittant fault has lasted two and a half weeks !!!! Todays heavy rain must have helped to show it up. Fields very muddy again. Remember in the past a lot of the old characters would say we needed a big fall of snow to warm up a cold spring, maybe this will happen in the next few weeks . Currently clear cold and 3c

Still only intermittant phone/broadband but speaking with others there are some big problems with BT service in this area. Good day yesterday more stones off ,last of outside straw bales into shed under cover and a batch of cattle off to sale. Ground is fairly dry and tempting to sow but its still warming up and if above comes off then seed is probably better in bag unless you are on very free draining sandy soil. The implications of extended cold in April for agriculture will be immense coming after a very long winter and peviously poor summer with lots of suppliers already complaing about poor cash flows from farmers. Even I can see that this summer may not be great if the jetstream stays on its southerly journey. Wild life will suffer too birds are emptying the feeder every second day and there is absolutely no grass anywhere with our own wintering sheep devouring tonnes of turnips every day. Hopefully its not too snowy to load them on the lorry on the 1st of April back to their home in Skye. Currently bright and 7c

Yes fantastic day so after feeding cattle most of the day did some gardening in the late afternoon mostly pruning buddlias. A couple of photos of neeps with hardly any leaves. and Ben Wyvis in all its winter glory. Currently-1c

Cold clear start to the day at -6c pretty cold for March.

May be mid May before there is enough grass to graze in fields so a lot of this stored feed will used up in winter feeding routine until then.Straw ,silage and hay prices still creeping up at the weekly fodder sale at Thainstone last Friday and these are roughly double what they were two years ago.

Calm this morning with lazy snowflakes falling straight down from the sky .We had a dusting overnight and its currently overcast and -2c

Super day for lifting neeps dry ground breezy and cold with a maximum of 2c.Thats us set up for the next 6 weeks of winter until the grass grows in May. Odd flurries all day and currently clear and -3c

Don" t worry there is always Easter for us!!

0c and ground all frozen in the wind. Breezy and dull odd flake in wind

Flakes here too at 1c with strong breeze.Suffering withdrawl symptoms as broadband down most of today and 3rd BT engineer failed to show between 1.00pm and 6.00pm.Think they are still fixing faults in snow affected areas from a fortnight ago.

Still very windy with odd spits in the wind.Temperature creeping down currently 3.5c

Thankfully we have enough feed to go to mid May with a very good neep crop and plenty of silage bales but others are not so fortunate especially further west. But the weather today has had more impact with lots of branches off including an eight inch limb off the garden horse chestnut tree..Lots of trees down in the conifer woods round about and even the Tesco shed in Forres was losing its roof sheeting. Still cool but less windy at 6c

Some very violent gusts this morning with significant windchill at 6c One sheet onsteading roof already loose. Having an issue with broadbaand too this last week huge crackling on phone line and broadband is very intermittant so keep chatting to BT .I think they are still dealing with the aftermath of the last snow.

A very bleak day dull windy and cool with a maximum of 7c .Absolutely no sign of anything green in the countryside. Currently 5.5c Still a few small patches of drifts in sheltered spots. Only positive is that the ground is slowly drying up.

I think it was Blast From The Past about a month ago said it would be mid April before it would become more springlike and I took that message and have tried to include it in the forward plans for the farm as like him I am a believer in the suns influence on the weather. and it is becoming quieter as this year rolls on. Currently overcast and 4c

A quick update auctioneer and Shepherd from Applecross in this morning both telling stories of artic lorryloads of hay coming up from Colchester to Skye this week. A lot of animals will have to be turned out in April even if there is no grass to graze as straw for bedding nearly all used up. The problem started last summer with hardly two dry days in a row in spite of just average rainfall carried on into autumn with a wet harvest hence lot of straw never baled and cattle housed early because they were destroying grass fields.Even large scale arable farms will be in trouble this spring as a lot of fieldwork still not possible and no winter ploughing done.Doing everything with minimal labour and machines is not the right thing to be doing in the face of such difficult weather conditions.Late sowing into May will incur yield reductions A lot of it has to do with the lack of drying days with wind instead we have had a lot of misty drizzly days in the last nine months. Still dull misty and drizzly and currently 6c

Not that unusal for snow in March or even April especially up here but its the depth of predicted cold in the models for the South that must be very rare and if it was to happen then both wildlife and plant life would take a big knock down there. Most of our garden and fields are still in winter mode. The farm has always been run on the basis of a seven month winter.Currently 4c dull and damp.

Dull day here but dry with patches of low cloud.A maximum of 6c and currently 4c. Ground pretty wet again after last nights rain.

Came up over the Cairn o Mount 2 years ago after the Spring Show at the end of February to be greeted by what looked like an army on manouvres with tracked vehicles ,guns and camouflaged clothing. Was obviously a massive white hare shoot on a scale I have never seen before with literally hundreds of keepers and guns. They were going to be taking no prisoners on that scale of shoot. Very wet here overnight but damp dull and misty now and currently 5c, The screws are slowly being turned on the farming scene by the weather just now especially if the cold spell materialises next week.. The peak lambing and calving will soon be happening. Lots of farmers try to lamb or calve inside and soon as the young are drinking and on their feet put them outside to minimise cross animal infections but putting them out into cold wet weather does mother and offspring no favours and increases food consumption.

I see there is an article in the Press and Journal farming section today advising farmers to prepare for a late spring. The Scottish governments weather resiliance committee must behind this with them seeing what we are seeing in the models Currently raining and 4.5c. Am seeing a few farmers ploughing today another sign of anxiety when the ground must be far to wet to plough and normally they would never start but the wet autumn and winter have held up this operation so there is still a lot to do.

Yes Hairy Celt the mountains to the north and west including Ben Wyvis were fabulous looking in the early morning sun today with snow cover which must rank amongst the best for a while.