Greetings everyone on this most exceedingly beautiful morning, a morning on which, if I had the voice I would let loose with song. It’s hard to believe that just a few short weeks ago I would have been sat here writing this in the wintery dark. Now, although it is still kind of dim out there, but I can see the golden glow of Apollo’s fiery chariot waiting in the wings, about to make its entrance. Winter my friends is in retreat.

We’re gaining about five minutes of precious daylight a week now. Isn’t that always the human cry – “More Light!” Those are reputed to have been Goethe’s final words “More light.” Ever since we crawled out of that primordial slime, that's been our unifying cry: "More light." Sunlight. Torchlight. Candlelight. Neon. Incandescent. Lights that banish the darkness from our caves, to illuminate our roads, the insides of our refrigerators. Big floodlights for the sports field. Little tiny flashlights for those books we read under the covers when we're supposed to be asleep. Light is more than merely watts and footcandles. Light is metaphor. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom Lead Thou me on! The night is dark, and I am far from home- Lead Thou me on! Arise, shine, for thy light has come. Light is knowledge. Light is life. Light is light.

And so we begin to shake off the sloth of winter and to come alive. Already there are buds on the trees and the first catkins are starting to appear. A little extra daylight and the chance of some extra sunshine are enough to tempt us back out into the garden. I love to wander around the garden to see what’s new at this time of year always hoping to see new shoots heralding the approach of spring. The long dark tunnel of winter is giving way to new life and spring, at least in my head. I know Spring officially begins on the vernal equinox, which takes place on March 20 this year. This is the start of the new astronomical cycle traditionally recognised across the world as the end of winter and start of spring in the northern hemisphere. However climate change and global warming means that spring is arriving earlier and earlier and I eagerly wait for it to arrive. And so tomorrow I will wait to see what Punxsutawney Phil will see. Folklore has it that if a he emerges from his burrow and fails to see his shadow, winter will soon end. On the other hand, if it is sunny and he sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter. Bring me good news Phil.

addendum

it seems my hubris in proclaiming winter in retreat has offended old man winter - the wind has shifted to the North-East and it's started to snow, winter my friends is back.

Before I finish this entry I have to tell you all about a visitor to Alledal. Well I say visitor, but this is a shy and reclusive creature. He could indeed be a resident and I never noticed him [though it could quite easily be a ‘her’] before. At first I thought It was a red squirrel – it was the right colour – and I know there are plenty around I see them as roadkill quite often, though I’ve never seen one at Alledal. This didn’t move like a squirrel though… It was even more exciting than that, it was a pine martin. Now I admit the picture isn’t the best in composition or quality, it was taken at the extreme range of my little compact camera, but what you can quite clearly see is a rather bedraggled pine martin looking nothing like the sleek predators I’ve seen in the local fauna park. Pretty or not it is a pine martin and I got a picture of it.