By Bernie Bell.

Through the window.

In the garden.

Thawing out the Bird-bath.

Hare tracks.

From the garden.

The road – before the tractors went through – Hurrah for the farmers!

Gairsay in the sunshine.

‘The Orcadian’ is reporting on the appearance of ‘snow bales’ in Sandwick.

I sent the following to a friend during the big snow in December 2010…

“We looked out of the window and saw that the wind was making snow ‘bales’. The wind would catch a little bit of snow and start to roll it, scootling along a little track, getting bigger and bigger, until it came up against a rise in the land, however slight, which was just a bit too much for it to continue, so it would stop, leaving a ‘snow bale’.

The size depended on how long it had scootled about, before a change in the land-level, stopped it. This only started at about four pm, so another factor may be the different strength of the wind on the newly-fallen snow.

These ‘snow bales’ were/are dotted about in next-door’s garden, our garden, and across the fields. The pic. is of the ones in next-door’s garden, as they look best there. So, there you have it…..wind sculpted ‘snow bales’!

Isn’t LIFE just wonder-full?”