A 'Spring' in their step!

It's mid afternoon and feed time for the boys so there is always a race to the bowls.  As soon as a human appears walking down the track with the feed Fergus, Faro and Fyta lead the charge.

Always following at a more leisurely pace is Fidget - it's not his way to rush about the paddocks, even for food!  Sometimes he breaks into a trot - but not often!

There is always a clamour to get noses into bowls with Fergus always finishing first and Faro always finishing last.

A midweek photo of the boys in the lovely Spring sunshine but with plenty of snow still showing on Ben Wyvis to the north west of us.

This shot taken this morning as the foursome wait for the gate to be opened allowing them into other paddocks. From the left Fidget, Faro, Fyta and Fergus.

Faro and Fyta later today with Faro alert as always - and Fyta eating as always.  I've only rarely been able to get a photo of Faro eating or with his head down because he remains alert as long as anyone or anything is near the boys.

And finally..................it's lovely to see some colour returning to the garden, but still no Daffodils in flower yet.

Better weather.

A much better week for the boys this week, only snow flurries and none of it lying anywhere.  This is Fergus (left) and Faro.

Fyta, looking intently at the hedge as he suspects there is a cat or even our neighbour's dog on the other side.

This is Fergus looking suitably fleeced up against the biting, cold wind which has blown for most of the week, from the East.

Taken today, this is is Faro charging across the paddock as the human approaches with the carrots.  The other boys are close behind!

But once the carrots are finished, they are no longer interested in the human and return to grazing in the sun.

And finally......................... there is nothing quite like a variety of heathers to give some colour throughout the winter months.  They are good value.

The last of the white stuff (again?!)

Last Sunday night's 'dump' of snow left us with a few inches to clear as we got into the new week.  They like a few channels to be cleared so that they can get at the grass.

A lovely photo of Fergus (left), Fyta (centre) and Fidget as they stare intently at the squealing pigs in our neighbour's field.

Faro looks a bit nonchalant in this photo, taking the snow in his stride and chewing on a few strands of haylage.

The snow and sunny daylight does give us an opportunity to take some nice snaps.  This one taken first thing on Wednesday morning with the boys behind the hedge eating their haylage with the hills to the west.

By the end of the week the snow had completely disappeared - again!  Lets hope that's it for this Winter and we can now expect the grass to start growing again.

And finally...............................the snow does give an opportunity to look at animal tracks everywhere. The badgers were very active last week, digging holes into the bank at the side of the track.  Here are their muddy tracks after their nocturnal activities.

An unpredictable 'Beast fae the East!'

What a week of disruption for so many people with the terrible weather throughout UK.  Unbelievably, we had no snow during the week - bitterly cold winds, but thankfully no snow as the photo of the boys shows.

Looking down from the house, across the paddock and the boys to the hills in the distance, we were delighted that the white stuff had missed us for once.

Even our neighbour's Jacobs sheep were happy with the lack of snow and continued to lick their mineral blocks and nibble the grass.

Each day and overnight has been bitterly cold of course but the boys don't mind that.  The amount of ice from the water trough has been building up daily without melting at all.

Fyta getting stuck into his bowl of sugar beet.  He loves to finish his own bowl then tries to pinch the contents of other bowls before the other boys finish!

Fidgit loves his sugar beet too.  He and Fergus, our other white boy, are beginning to look like a couple of fleecy Polar Bears again!

And finally................would you believe it, I spoke too soon.  After managing to avoid all last week's snow, look what started around 4.00pm today.  As I'm typing this it's nearly 8.00pm and it hasn't stopped snowing so looks like we're all back on the shovels again tomorrow!  Stay warm.