Where I live in Ardnamurchan the house is located in what the Scots would call a “wee glen”. The land to the east rises steeply to about 350 metres and to the west although not so steep we are still sheltered from the worst of the weather which comes predominately from the west.

Whilst in some ways this is ideal ideal it does have the consequence that the glen tends to be colder than the surrounding land because when the sun goes down and the air cools it flows down into the glen and we will often have ground frost when the higher land is frost free.

So the signs of spring come later. There may be celandine and wood anemone’s blooming in the woods situated on the higher land whist I am still waiting for the signs.

Whilst we have had the snowdrops and daffodils in bloom earlier this year. Just this morning whilst drying myself after the morning bathe I finally noticed that the land around me is starting to green in the wider sense, grass at last starting to grow and the first spears of the bluebell leaves pushing up through the soil.