A last look at winter?

I am hoping that by the time we come back from Australia, just before Easter, all signs of winter will have been swept away, gathered up by the icy Polar winds which are swirling around us this week, and swooshed off to some other destination.  I have been having some pretty teeth-gritting walks with Tilly this week and although we haven't had the new falls of snow which have blanketed the outskirts of Edinburgh, there are still smidges of white to be seen on the Lammermuirs.

As I wrote in my last post, there is little colour in the landscape.  The skies are leaden and any blue sky which is brave enough to appear is pale and washed out.  The blue is so translucent that the colour doesn't even show up on my photographs so I won't include them here.  However, as I have walked down the drive recently I have been accompanied by three pairs of bullfinches, the males showing off their magnificent, deep peachy pink coloured chest feathers.  There has also been a charm of goldfinches.  The collective name for these groups of little finches is delightful enough, but their flashes of brightly coloured plumage of yellow and red with white dots on black tail feathers, always makes me think of a bunch of quarrelsome circus clowns and I love their company.  When they land on the niger seed feeder in the garden they squabble and push each other around and it's all very entertaining.

Along the back lane the ditches are full of water and the remains of last year's flowers are just broken muddy stems.  The gnarled old hawthorn bushes have yet to show signs of new growth, but the best bit is that by the time I come home at the end of March it will all be happening in the wood and hedgerow.  

Of course, the icing on the cake for me is that I will be swapping the current cold for some Australian warmth, and I think I am ready for that now.  I will try and send you some sunshine in my posts over the next six weeks, so do come back soon!