Snowed in!

Sunday 5th February 2012

Look what happened overnight!

This snow was expected. As a system from the West, full of moisture from its journey over the Atlantic, finally managed to muscle in on the cold air system that's been hanging over us, there was only one thing that was going to happen.

It was a very fine snow which drifted into waves and peaks, penetrating every crack and opening in the outbuildings to leave a dusting of snow, even inside.

The four majestic Ash trees have seen this winter scene many times before.

Most of the chickens have seen this before. For the pigs, though, a new experience. In their short lives they've seen just about every sort of weather. They were born in baking June heat, they took refuge in the winter storms, and now they're ending their days frolicking in the snow. Well, actually pigs don't really frolic in the snow, they just seem a bit bemused for a while, then they just get on with things ... important things like eating and sleeping.
The snow has brought Squiggle and Curl up lovely and clean, though I suspect when they go off next week they'll be covered head to feet in the mud that's guaranteed to accompany the thaw.

One benefit of the snow is that it gives me an opportunity to assess the level of unwanted wildlife on the farm. All I could find this morning were the tracks of a single rat, a couple of rabbit tracks over the frozen pond, a hare's run across the bottom of the land and these pheasant tracks near the haystack. Even around the mountains of bird food and under the forest of feeders there was not a rodent track to be seen. This is good news and shows that our vigilance is still paying off.