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January 2013 blog
Friday February 15th, 2013 |
The snow arrived at Gwaenynog on Thursday 17th January making an already beautiful landscape become enchanting.
A snowy Gwaenynog, Jan 2013
I still find it a surprise at the quietness once it’s snowed – I’d heard the phrase “snow blanket” years ago, but had not really appreciated what that meant. Until moving to Wales in 2009, I had not been subjected to much snow in the southeast of England or lived with the quantities of snow we’ve had since we moved here. It’s ironic that my old home area has suffered lots of snows since we moved…
My 2 dogs love the snow – they are nearly 5 years old, but as soon as they saw that white stuff they ran out and cavorted (cannot think of a better way to describe it!) and generally had fun. Shame it’s a bit powdery here, as I’ve enjoyed throwing snowballs for Beau in previous snowfalls… it’s cruel, I know, but highly amusing seeing him try to catch or fetch it. It’s also not suitable for snowman building.
One consequence though, has been the postponement of guests arriving. Hopefully when they return, hopefully next month, it will have all gone and not return till 2014!
Impatient for food!
As the BBC Winterwatch so clearly say, having snow does give us an opportunity to see what animals are visiting us. I’ve been amazed at the number of rabbit tracks I’ve found, also bird tracks – usually pheasants – but foxes, badgers and of course, hares and rabbits. I only learned about those by watching the telly.
Then there’s the livestock. We have sheep on our land, they’re not ours as we rent out to a farmer, but we offer to feed them – especially in the snow, as it saves the farmer some time – and we’re out walking the dogs anyway. Sometimes though, they think they’re getting fed when all I’m doing is walking the dogs…! They can be quite intimidating coming towards me – see photo, right.
We happily feed the birds all the time, but especially when it snows – we get some very interesting birds visit us, as you will not from other blogs. I will update about them next time.
January went out in a bit of a blast, with an additional 3-4 inches, with some hail and high winds and then we had a massive thaw overnight – and it was all gone! Nature is amazing, even if we all complain about it!
Wonder what February will bring us…
