A Happy New year to everyone from Fiona and I. Its been a rough start to the year with plenty rain, sleet and snow. As often happens in such weather, a river has formed on the forest track to the side of Hazelgrove and is carving out a route across our drive washing away the stones and gravel! On the otherhand though it has turned the nearby Falls of Foyers in to a spectacular raging torrent and the Monaliath Mountains are beautiful under a blanket of heavy snow.

In this weather the garden birds are constantly hungry and looking for food. Unfortunately for the first time in years, a young sparrow hawk has appeared and clocked that there are easy pickings to be had. I was looking out the kitchen window the other day only to see it appear from nowhere and take out a poor unsuspecting bird. Just hope it doesn't get the woodpecker I saw this morning !

The red squirrels too are hungry and each day we regularily see three in the garden feeding on the bird feeders or burrowing for nuts they stocked away in the autumn. This photo of one of our little furry friends was taken outside our kitchen window last winter.