Cottage Diary - Aspenwood self catering luxury Holiday Cottage overlooking Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland.

During last week we experienced a real mixture of weather patterns, at times not knowing if we should wear wet coats or T shirts. We have had mist, rain, rainbows, sunshine, starry nights followed by frost and even a late flurry of snow. Whatever the weather throws at us the birds still expect to be catered for and they reward us with an early morning chorus. Several mornings we have either had to break the ice in their water bowl or remove excessive rain water from the feeding tray. The nut feeders have to be regularly topped up as they are very busy places in this inclement weather. They are visited by a rich variety of birds such as the great tit shown here or the male chaffinch in the above photo.

In the evening we have heard many owls in the surrounding forest, several times thinking they were on the TV programme we were watching only to turn off the sound and discover they were for real and very near the house. As we drove up to Aspenwood yesterday evening to meet our new guests an owl flew across the path right in front of the car and perched in a nearby tree watching us watching him. We regularly have a gang of three deer visit us in the late evening, setting off the outside lights as they casually stroll in front of our conservatory windows giving us the odd passing glance. February has gone and we look forward to Spring and all it brings.