Going going......

 Snow still clings to the slopes of the Bonsai Mountain

 but the field to our front is clearing.

Casualties are starting to emerge in the thaw, I found two dead ewes in the drifts by the boundary fence and saw another on my cycle to work. Stories abound of losses sustained by the militia, all sorts of hyperbole to describe the catastrophic loss of life amongst the new born lambs. Perhaps the most graphic so far is a one ton builders bag full of dead lambs at the back of a barn. The thaw has meant a return to  Somme like mud. Dozens of muddy paws have been racing in and out of the cottage adding to the mayhem caused by a toddler who's latest hobby is exercising his vocal cords by experimental screaming.