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

The sky was really threatening this morning and, as we drove back from Inverness, down came the snow. We could see it laying already on the lower ground around Urquhart Castle on the opposite shore. Just made it home in time and unloaded the shopping before it got worse. The cloud base was very low and we could not see clearly across Loch Ness. After a few hours it eased off leaving a layer of snow around the house and in the forest, the fir trees looked a picture. The birds were desperately trying to find their lunch which,by now,was hidden under an inch of snow. Had a swarm of long tailed tits in the trees taking bits of litchen and moss for their nests. A few green and yellow siskins appeared on the nut feeders which is quite unusual for this time of year-they normally come to feed in the spring and summer months so hope this is not an omen of bad weather to come! By 4 o'clock it was starting to get dark when the sky was suddenly illuminated for a few minutes in a colourful light show.