On the BBC website today....
By the time we got there mid-morning, it had "warmed up" to -5℃, according to the car. It was a frozen landscape, crunchy underfoot with ice but not too slippery; and we went as far as the second gate. Across the loch is distant An Teallach.
The only birds we saw were the bullfinches, which were now up the slope among conifers. We drove to the wind-farm road for coffee, looking across to our walk at the foot of the hill.
On the way home we pulled in once or twice to scan for black grouse; there was nothing, but the cold was beginning to penetrate now and it was a relief to get back in the car. At the summit, the temperature dropped to -7℃, but it rose steadily as we descended to sea level. Back in the village we drove round to West Terrace, and I spotted a curlew down on the spit; so far, I've managed to spot a new bird for the year every day. I don't suppose that will last!
