This has certainly been a hard winter - and also a long one. Although we are well into March and Mother's day has come and gone the daffodils are still struggling to appear. It feels as though we are waiting a long time for Spring to come
These photos show how much later everything is this year. The snowdrops that line the path down to the loch are beautiful every year. The photo on the left was taken on February 21st 2009 whilst the one on the right taken last weekend - March 14th 2010. As you can see they seem to be at much the same stage of development - just three weeks later this year. They were certainly late to appear as the ground was covered with snow throughout most of January when they generally first appear. Then, the harsh frosts of the last few weeks have battered them down every morning although they revived again in the sunshine later in the day.
It is not just Aber that is affected of course. The Woodland Trust reports that sightings of Spring Flowers are a month later this year than average. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on other species as the year unfolds.
The rest of the walk is unremittingly brown and bare. The dead grass has been flattened by snow and the trees are bare with no buds showing yet. The only hint of better times to come was the change in wind direction. After weeks of bitter easterlies it has begun to turn and was coming from the north west again and blowing the waves into Net Bay.
The quality of light has changed however and with nights and days being of almost equal length as the equinox approaches, spirits are lifted.
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