Black dogs, white snow

Not the easiest subject to photograph, especially when the dogs won't sit still! Eventually, by bribing her with treats, we managed to get Bracken to sit still long enough for this one:

She is still excited every time she sees the snow, and rushes around snuffling it - throwing it in the air with her nose and trying to catch the pieces as they fall.

Bracken is growing at a phenomenal rate, and had reached 8 1/2 kilos at the last weigh-in. All this cold weather doesn't make house training any easier, of course, but we'll get there in the end!

Lovely day for it!

Lovely day for it!, originally uploaded by Nico.....

I love this pic by Nico Morgan (found on his Flickr pages) - it pretty much sums up this shooting season for me!

Cold weather: shooting ban in Scotland

Christmas Day, originally uploaded by nz_willowherb.

With continuing harsh weather, BASC is calling for all shooters in Scotland to exercise 'extra voluntary restraint' in their shooting of ducks, geese and waders including woodcock, snipe and reared mallard.

If the weather conditions persist until the New Year in Scotland then it is possible that a decision will be taken by the Government to impose a statutory suspension of waterfowl shooting which would last for up to 14 days.

All of which means that my planned wildfowling trip to NE Scotland in the new year is looking less and less likely to happen. Which will be bad news for the local pigeons and foxes.

UPDATE, Thurs 31 Dec: 

Today (31 Dec) was day 11 in the countdown to a severe weather suspension of the shooting of ducks, geese and waders in Scotland. The hard weather is expected to persist and if it does the Minister will sign the Order on Saturday 2 Jan, coming into effect on Monday the 4 Jan at 09.00.
The ban will affect the shooting of all ducks (including reared ducks), geese and waders (including snipe and woodcock) and will be signed for 14 days. However, there will be a review after 7 days and if mild weather has arrived it could then be lifted.

UPDATE, Sun 3 Jan: 

Today the environment minister Roseanna Cunningham signed the order, which brings a suspension into force on Tuesday 5 Januar. The suspension last up to two weeks, but is reviewed after seven days if conditions have improved.

This is the first cold weather suspension since January 1997, when the order covered the whole of Great Britain. The last time such a ban was enforced in Scotland alone was in 1993.

More details on the BASC website here »