Winter gales and snow showers - in April....

 

In Orkney it is called "lambing snow" - just as the lambs are due the weather seems to turn foul.  And this weekend we have gales (56mph average) and sleet, hail and snow.  The snow isn't settling on Graemsay or in the West but have heard it is drifting onto roads on some parts of the Orkney Mainland.

There are some lambs in the field in front of the house.  They seem to be doing OK.  Sheep have a knack of finding sheltered spots.  These (above) are sheltering in a dip which was for the old mill dam that used to be at Sandside.  The ewes get plenty of food and as long as the lambs get milk they are generally OK. There are hay bales around the field, plus a huge muck heap for the lambs to find shelter in.  Other neighbours are also getting lambs now, though some can lamb indoors or at least keep them in for a day or two.

Morning view - the snow showers come over the landscape in swathes, and then clear to blue skies and sunshine for a few minutes, then repeat.

Cat flap battened!  And a mini snow drift for her to wade through were she foolhardy enough to go out...

Incoming showers for Hoy High.....

Looking across to Stromness..... I should point out the windows are covered in salt etc.... not just dirty - hee hee.

Yup that's about it....

And a friend sent me this photo of a street in Kirkwall in the early hours of the morning! Sheet ice....