End of February

The lighthouse, Lossiemouth West beach

 Have had some lovely walks during February as the weather on the whole has been sunny and some days even warm, certainly for the time of year. Can hardly believe that it is possible to get washing dried outside! Went to visit a bird hide on the edge of  Spynie Loch near the Bishop's Palace at Spynie and close to Lossiemouth on a misty day.  The lighting at this time of  year is always interesting. The tornado pilots based at RAF Lossiemouth use the lighthouse to line up on the runway!

One of the swans after food

The loch is a great place to watch swans, ducks and even otters. There are lots of bird feeders and we often see red squirrels as well as blue tits, coal tits, but not on this occasion.  Took the floating duck food with me, but only a couple of swans were hungry and came to try it.

The following day we took a drive up to the Lecht ski area and arrived late afternoon as a snow storm was  arriving making for some moody skies.When we stopped to watch the skiers the mist had come down and it was good they were wearing colourful jackets so we could still see them. The wind was very cold, but the snow that came in the evening made for good sking the next day. The weather has changed over the last few days and the snow is fast disappearing.

Moody skies near the Lecht Ski resort

Learning the ropes at the Lecht!

Skiers at the Lecht disappearing into the mist

Winter has come to Speyside

We have just returned from our summer holidays, in Chile and the Falkland Islands where we enjoyed the start of their summer, to a winter wonderland. The weather is certainly making us realise that Christmas is nearly here. I can't remember when we last had this much snow before Christmas. Everywhere looks beautiful as long as you only need to sit and look at it. Steve and his helpers have been over at the cottages getting them ready for our Christmas visitors, while I have stayed at home enjoying the warm indoors and admiring the snowy hills around! I ventured out this afternoon, now that my car has on it's winter tyres, in beautiful sunshine to take a few photos just in case the weather changes suddenly. There should be good sking at the Lecht and Cairngorms if this weather continues over the holiday season. I had a look at the forecast for the next few days and the Lecht is expecting -6 to -8. This weather is lovely for the Reindeer as they pull Santa's Sleigh around the area. They are going to be at Brodie on 23 December from 10 am to 4 pm.