Two o’clock may not seem late to start a walk, but at mid winter in Scotland the afternoons are short. I know the sun has passed its zenith, but feel the need to experience the blue sky and sunshine before they fade.
After a month of snow and freezing conditions, a slow thaw has reduced the white cover to a few inches in depth. Yesterday the snow was horribly wet, soon soaking my old boots, but an overnight freeze means crisper underfoot conditions today.
I head for one of my favourite wooded knolls, topped by spreading oaks and flanked with coppiced hazel and juniper. Less snow settles under trees than in the open, and during the thaw their dripping branches has splattered that thin layer so that it has completely disappeared in places.
Here I find some welcome colour to relieve the monochrome world of fog-shrouded snow that I have walked in for two days. Vivid green moss covers the ground and base of the trunks, while a filigree of orange twigs reach into the blue sky.
Repeated falls of thick snow have battered the bracken into submission, making it easier to cross the open ground that is less shaded by trees. These snow fields are untouched by human footprint, but criss-crossed with animal tracks.
