Scotlands coldest Winter
As Nairn sees more snow drift in over the past few days, the met office have reportedly declared the current Scottish Winter the coldest for almost 100 years – since records began in 1914.
Ice patches still remain from the previous snow falls, rain had already soaked the roads and ground, so freezing temperatures and more snow are a deadly combination.
When the snows returned again on Friday I’d already decided the presence of snow, water, and black ice made road travel too treacherous to risk.
I figured driving through snowstorms was bad enough, but the current combination was deadly and that it was definitely a case of drive only if necessary, to the point of doing the weekly shopping at the main Somerfield in Nairn, instead of driving out to Morrissons in Inverness.
Looks like a number of people did get caught out – a three-vehicle crash between Forres and Elgin, and the BBC reporting that Delnies saw a car overturn onto its roof, and a motorcyclist come off across ice.
And that was just on the A96 close by, with the A9 seeing a string of accidents and collisions.
Meanwhile, there have been further reports raising serious concerns about wildlife – with the RSPB claiming a potential crisis to bird life that has later developed into specific stories about barn owls dying in number and grouse fleeing country estates in search of food.
I’m regularly filling up the bird table we bought late last year, but there is surprising little variety – a number of sparrows, chaffinches, the odd yellowhammer (or similar), and something that may have been a curlew that landed briefly.
Normally when I see chaffinches in groups, I see greenfinches, but I haven’t noticed any yet. And while long-tailed tits came out from Culbin to our garden last winter, there has only been the odd blue and great tit at the bird table.
I know other people nearby have more voluminous bird tables, so perhaps they are getting what they need most elsewhere and are staying close to them. Even still, it remains a concern that the local birdlife may be more severely affected than we realise.
And I’m also very worried about the amphibians. Being a fan of Britain’s frogs, toads, and newts, I’m concerned about the length and severity of the big freeze on them. I fear unless some have gone deep enough under ground or water, many may have frozen to death in the extreme low temperatures.
In the meantime, the snow makes for a change from the sleet we might otherwise have expected, but it remains to be seen what the costs and consequences of it will finally be.
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I wouldn’t worry to much about the frogs. You can quite literally put one in the freezer and it will thaw out and come back to life. all amphibians have this talent apparently.