Jonathan: The weather changed during the night, with rain carried in from the south-west on a mild wind having mostly melted the snow, but falling on frozen blacktop had resulted in black ice.  The coldest it’s been in the past week has been -4degC a couple of mornings ago, but for the most part its just hovered between 0 and +4 – ie just cold enough to stop the little snow we had from melting.  Compared to the mainland Scotland and north east England it has been positively balmy here!  By the time I’d fed the hens and geese and sheep the rain had cleared and it was a fine morning with a light breeze.  This cow – munching grass by the roadside near the croft – seemed quite happy!