January 20th

I have been in Liberia for the last couple of weeks and it is a shock to the system to move down thirty degrees. Thousands of common swifts above the rain forest and barn swallows everywhere to add to the summer feel. But up at Kellie Law today it was like the Arctic, lots of snow, vividly bright sunshine and the Firth glittering in the distance. No snow in Crail of course although the ground was frozen all day. There were robins all along the way, very conspicuous against the snow on the tops and then also conspicuous around Crail because they were forced to forage in more obvious places where the sun had melted things a bit. There are surprisingly few pink-footed geese about considering the harder weather inland and no influx of snipe or woodcock – perhaps if the cold weather continues.

Pink-footed goose avoiding the snow