Quiet & Cold

Two days of gentle chilly weather with light winds, night frosts, bursts of cold sunlight and drifting clouds has been a relief from the stormy start to the year. Down here at 300 metres there's no snow but the ground is crunchy, pools and ditches icy, and the frost lasts all day. The skies have been wonderful with the low sun lighting up the patterns and layers.

Not much wildlife is stirring. A roe deer trots across a meadow and into the trees. Wood pigeons explode from the branches above our heads. Pheasants run low, heads and tails down, skittering through the grasses.

Across Strathspey the Cromdale Hills are brown with only traces of snow. The slanting sun lights up fields and woods.

As the light fades a purple wash sweeps over the hills and a half moon appears in the sky. The cold begins to bite and it's time for home.

Tomorrow it's time for a first venture of the years into the High Cairngorms.