Storm Arwen and Me

I have spend much time of late fleeing from storms. Storm Arwen caused a power outage of 7 days at the castle, and Storm Corrie caused a further power outage of 3 days. On each occasion I fled to my house in the south of England. With hindsight, both emigrations were good moves. As a remote worker the one thing you do need is electricity. Arwen had a considerable impact on the Balintore landscape, felling a third of the trees in a forest which you can see from my bedroom window.

wind-flattened forest on hill facing my bedroom window

I have now returned to the castle and at the weekend was able to walk around to check for any damage. Ironically, I arrived back at Balintore just after midnight in the middle of a violent snow storm! I was hoping to keep the three antique sofas in the back of my pick-up out of the rain during my drive northwards. Ironically, they were coated instead with a deep layer of snow.

arriving back at the castle in a snow storm:  the morning after!

I own a very small section of forest immediately adjacent to the castle gate lodges. Nothing was apparent on driving past the gate lodges and I had assumed I had escaped, but exploring on foot was a different matter. Two mahoosive Scotch Pines had been toppled. 

roots of two toppled Scots Pines

The biggest Scots Pine in this section of forest had toppled across the stream forming a bridge. The other Scots Pine had fallen parallel to the stream. Both adjacent root systems had been fully unearthed taking away a section of the stream's bank. In fact, once one of the trees had been uprooted it was probably inevitable that the other would follow suit. Being by the bank means that both would have less purchase than being in the middle of the forest.

Scots Pine toppled across stream

Scots Pine toppled parallel to stream

The amount of light in the forest has increased enormously. It is sad to lose one's largest tree, but this is nature's way, and in any case my firewood stocks had dwindled to nothing!