When Algy got up on Saturday morning – rather late in the day, it has to be admitted – he was surprised to see that it had snowed again in the night. This was definitely not normal for the wild west Highlands in April – at least, not on the coast, although spring snow was fairly common on the mountains. At low levels, however, nothing more wintry than a nasty mixture of rain, sleet and hail was expected, which did indeed often occur at lambing time in mid-April, to the concern of the crofters and their sheep, but not snow…
However, although the ground was white in the morning, by the early afternoon the snow had more or less vanished, and as there was no kind of precipitation actually falling out of the sky for a while, Algy decided to stretch his wings while he could, and get some fresh air.
And fresh it most certainly was, for the wind was rushing and roaring through the trees again with terrific vigour, not to mention a great deal of noise, and its strength was such that Algy simply could not fly against it.
Abandoning any idea of setting out on an adventure therefore, Algy kept very low to the ground, in the hope of not being blown out to sea again, and as he passed by the big garden pond he got a very pleasant surprise, for a lovely golden flower was poking out of the water, blowing this way and that in the wind.
Of course one flower might not seem much to many folk, but to Algy it was a delight, because not only was this the very first marsh marigold flower that this pond had ever known, it also happened to be exactly the same colour as his very own hair feathers 😀
