Ben Venue

Ben Venue has appeared several times before on this blog, when I found the Ohprydium, and when the group I was with experienced a mountain rescue. Both of those were later in the year. Climbing it on 19th February meant that we came across some large snow patches, and the path was quite tricky in a few places as the snow had frozen like concrete and gave little grip.

Higher on the hill we had excellent views back in the direction in which we had come.

From the summit we could see Loch Achray to the east, with Loch Venachar beyond, and Ben Ledi to the north-east.

Soon after leaving the summit, we had views to Ben Lui, Ben Oss and Beinn Dhubchraig.

Here the path rose steeply and was covered with hard-packed snow, making it very treacherous. Fortunately we were able to find a way round it on soft grass, which was much less slippery.

The sun was getting low as we descended, with golden light on Stobinian to the north.

From the road at the bottom we had a good view of Ben Lomond in the setting sun.

Snowing

February was the most amazing month for good weather here in Scotland. We had day after day of bright sunshine, and I was even able to mow the lawn for the first time since last summer. I was so busy going out in the good weather that I had no time to write about it, so expect several blog posts in the next few days while I catch up.

But on the 13th we had a snowy day, so it was on with the skis and multiple layers of warm clothes and waterproofs while the snow fell steadily.

It was very sticky snow, lying thickly on the branches of the trees and forming lumps on the undersides of our skis whenever we stopped,

but fortunately someone had some magic teflon non-wax which prevented the problem, so we applied it liberally to our skis. (I must remember to remove it again before we have fresh snow, or I'll be hurtling down even the gentlest slopes at 90mph.)

Views were limited, but we caught a glimpse of the Kilpatrick Hills to the west.

Then home for some hot soup.

From Winter to Spring

During the past week we seem to have passed from winter to spring. It seems amazing to think that we were skiing on the 18th March,

and on the 19th March we were walking in snow at low levels in the Carron Valley.

On 24th March we had a beautiful, sunny day, when I climbed Ben Ledi with a friend. It was warm enough to walk in short sleeves almost to the summit, until we were exposed to the cold wind at the top, yet on the way down we visited a small lochan which was still almost completely frozen.

These photos show the summit of Ben Ledi in the background.

The only flower we found was Coltsfoot.

Meanwhile, it has been all change in the garden. We saw the last of the Bramblings on the 23rd, and the Siskins and Redpolls disappeared at around the same time. Instead, we have Blackbirds, Starlings and Jackdaws all demanding food every time I go outside.

On the 25th, I saw the first wild Primrose of the year,

and yesterday we caught sight of an adder sunbathing on some rocks by a reservoir where we had stopped for lunch.

A day in the Campsies

It snowed hard for most of the day yesterday, but didn't settle here. Late in the afternoon, I could see that the Campsies had a fresh fall of snow, so today I suggested that we might try going there to see if there was enough snow to ski. It was a damp, foggy morning, we couldn't see the hills, and almost no snow was lying, so we weren't very optimistic. We decided to take the road that climbs high into the hills, and to our delight we soon came up out of the fog into bright sunshine.

On the north side of the Campsies, there was plenty of snow on the tops of the hills, so we were soon skiing in good conditions.

Dunbrach

Meikle Bin

Lecket Hill

Near the top of Holehead, we looked down on a sea of fog below, but could also see far distant snow-covered hills above it.

We followed a forestry track for part of the way down the hill. The mist had now cleared.

Life after the freeze

After recording a temperature of -15°C at 7am the day before yesterday, the big thaw has now begun. I'll post some pictures of the snow later, but this morning I went out on my cross-country skis to the park by our house and was amazed at the number of small creatures walking around on the snow. These included spiders, flies, springtails and a froghopper. I imagine that the sudden rise in temperature must have caused the eggs to hatch. Below are a selection.

November snow

It began to snow on Friday night, and by this morning we had about 12cm. I don't remember ever having so much snow here in Glasgow so early in the season. It seems hardly any time since the end of last winter's snow.

The park next to our house was busy with children sledging, though I was out before them when I took this picture.

Our cotoneaster berries were shining brightly in the sun. The birds haven't managed to eat them all yet.

This afternoon there were no signs of any road-clearing.

Even the main road at the back of our house was covered in snow, with traffic slowed to a crawl.

Back in the park, some old seed heads were catching the evening light.

Large clouds were building up, threatening a further fall of snow, though this did not materialise.

After the snow 2

Now that we are suddenly having warm, sunny days that seem like summer, it is hard to remember that only 10 days ago I was cross-country skiing on the hills just half an hour's drive from our house.

When I wrote the previous entry entitled "After the snow," I didn't imagine that we would have so much more cold weather with plenty more snow although we mostly had to travel short distances to get to it. I spent so many days cross-country skiing that other things, such as keeping up this blog, got left behind.

Towards the end of February I visited Loch Lomond twice. Large parts of it were frozen, and this picture was taken on 21st February at Balmaha on the east shore.

Two days later, after a day's hill walking, we stopped off at Loch Lomond Shores at the south end of the loch. Here, too, the loch was largely frozen, though there was little snow on Ben Lomond in the background.

The Fintry Loup is a large waterfall in the River Endrick, and I visited it when it was still partly frozen. The amount of water coming down was considerably less than usual, not only because of the ice, but also because we had so little rainfall.

On 24th February more snow fell, and two days later we went skiing at the Queen's View by the road to Drymen. Unfortunately, further up the hill the snow was not only very deep but a hard crust had formed on it which we continually broke through, making skiing very difficult and tiring.

Better conditions followed and we had several magnificent days of skiing in the Carron Valley Forest. The hill in the distance is Meikle Bin.

The Carron Valley Reservoir, like almost every other area of water, was completely frozen.

In some places it was hard to tell where the land ended and the water began.

Although it appears that the ice is melting in the picture below, it was only surface water, and when we visited again a few days later the surface was once again solid ice.

The continuing cold weather produced many more ice spikes in our garden, especially after I discovered that using de-ionised water greatly increased the likelihood of spikes developing. This double spike appeared on 31st January.

Another strange phenomenon, which I began to see with increasing frequency on lochs and reservoirs which had been frozen for some time, was large stars forming in the surface of the ice.

There is an article about this in the Physical Review, published by the American Physical Society.

While the cold weather lasted, we continued to be visited by large flocks of redpolls. The largest count I made was 84 on 5th February. The numbers dropped off as the weather became milder, though a pair of redpolls was still present last week.

Now, by contrast, we have warm, sunny weather. There are new flower species coming out every day, and they are catching up fast.

After the snow

Here in the west of Scotland, we didn't get as much snow as in some other parts of the UK, but it was very cold and the snow lay for longer - just one day short of 4 weeks.

I have been trying to think of a few pictures that sum up this winter period for me.

First, it has been a fantastic opportunity to get out on cross-country skis, day after day, in some beautiful sunny weather.

Not everything was so easy. There was a national shortage of salt and you could spot where it should have been in the supermarket by the empty shelf. One local retailer managed to get a supply, and advertised it at this roundabout.

The cold weather was not so good for wildlife, and this tiny wren was a victim.

Other birds managed to survive by moving into gardens. Our ducks, normally only with us between April and July, returned in large numbers, mostly at night. Here there are 12 of them on their way to us.

The Lake of Menteith, like many other areas of water, froze to a considerable depth. It was hoped that a "Grand match" or "Bonspiel" could take place. This is a huge curling contest which has not been held for 30 years due to milder weather. Unfortunately logistic problems and a sudden rise in temperature meant that it was cancelled at the last minute. Here a couple are going for a walk on the lake, now covered in a thin layer of water. In the foreground the ice has been marked out for curling. Some matches on a smaller scale were played during the previous weekend.

At the end of the day, the sun caught the Campsies as it set, and turned them gold and red.