Last August I noted floods at Balbirnie Golf Course. The bridge featured in that post was sunsequently removed probably because its supports had been undermined.

In April this year I photographed the foundations of a replacement bridge.

The golf course itself was looking fine.

18^th fairway and green:-

The 10^th tee had some striking shadows:-

10^th tee and 18^th fairway:-

A heat dome over North America, conflagrations in Greece, floods in Germany, Belgium and London, smoke from Siberian forest fires drifting over the North Pole, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe.

These were things never imagined when I was growing up. Any possibility of these things was consigned safely to the uncertain future.

And yet.

The climate has definitely changed in my lifetime and there can be no doubt that fact is overwhelmingly due to human activity.

That apocalyptic future is here. No longer in the future.

Now.

What will it take to make certain people believe that?

Balbirnie House (Balbirnie House Hotel) in winter. 28/1/21 to be precise:-

A week or so later, snow had fallen:-

Snow on Balbirnie Golf Course:-

On weekdays and Saturdays, if we’re not on an excursion or supermarket shopping, we normally walk through Balbirnie Park on our way to Markinch for the newspaper. Usually by the path which flanks Balbirnie Golf Club’s front nine holes by the road up to/down from the hotel.

We vary our Sunday walk.

Sometimes we go on what we call the loop, round the other side of the golf course from that path and past a field near the Markinch roundabout where there are usually some horses grazing, then up by the main road (safely behind the old Balbirnie Estate wall) till the path turns back onto the access road which leads to our house.

At others we go up by Balbirnie golf club’s back nine holes.

Last January not much play would have been possible. Or if possible, not easy. The flooded parts had iced up:-

Mind you the water hazard might have been a bit less so. (Not that playing off the ice would have been advisable):-

In January we had a cold spell. Our walk down to Markinch to get the newspaper was made just a bit more hazardous. The short cut we had adopted during Covid times – over the path by Balbirnie Golf Club’s practice putting green – was very treacherous:-

The floods I featured earlier iced over completely.

Ice skaters/ice hockey players took advantage of the frozen pond:-

Last winter was terrible for rain. Balbirnie Park grounds flooded in part once more.

This was on 8/1/2/2020 on the lower part of the golf course:-

Two days later the pond had expanded:-

On the 19^th it looked like this:-

A few days later the floods had encroached on the road up past the golf course.

I mentioned the Balbirnie House Hotel a few posts ago and again here.

One day last August I noticed on our daily walk that a whole load of tents had sprung up in the grounds.

This was the hotel’s response to Covid restrictions on gatherings inside. Instead they had introduced al fresco dining.

A brave move in Scotland!

The video below is from YouTube.

Does it show fireworks?

Sparklers perhaps?

No. This is sprite lightning captured on film at 100,000 frames a second.

I first saw this on Astronomy Picture of the Day for 4/1/21.

Stitch of two photos to get the whole rainbow in. It’s actually a double rainbow.

Photograph taken on 6/2/15.