First snow of winter....

OK - it's only a sprinkling of snow, but it is still SNOW! And snow showers are forecast throughout the week. That will be the third year in a row we've had snow before Christmas, which actually is unusual. Orkney is protected by the Gulf Stream and Winter is characterised by wind, rain and grey skies, with the odd frost and a day or two of snow.  We shall have to see what THIS winter brings!

The photo above shows very little snow on Graemsay (known as the green isle), but the Hoy Hills have a thick covering.

Below are the Orphir hills, also sprinkled with snow.

The hens must have got cold feet today!

I love the way the snow settles on surfaces, drawing attention to ordinary things. These flagstone slabs against the wall drew my eye as I went to feed the hens.

Charlie-in-the-barn (my barn cat) happily tucked into his extra breakfast this morning. (He does have a cosy hay barn to sleep in! And he *could* have been a house cat if he'd wanted to....).

The sea looks awfully cold!  But at least a little calmer than when it was whipped into a frenzy by the gales this past week.

Bit of a "mushroom cloud" over Windbreck, up the hill from Sandside.

Time to fill up the bird feeders again (hanging from an old elder bush in the garden - the only tree in the garden of any size - it just peeks above the stone dyke)!! (Plus seed for the ground feeders too)