Not a Pretty Sight

This image shows the received wisdom of those in charge of pollarding trees in the Meadows- cut off all their limbs and leave the trunk like some grotesque totem poll. Not a good look to me, in fact positively ugly, but somewhere someone will say that in time there will be regrowth and all will be good in 20 years. Sadly if I live another 20 years, there is a certainty I will be elsewhere and not see the result.

Meanwhile this is only one of three such ravaged trees I see on my walk around the marches. The tall one that was drastically pollarded at the foot of our garden about 4 years ago has grown a crew cut of thin spindly twigs and leaves at the top, but with no side branches and a very thick trunk, looks ridiculous in winter.

The Dower House has never been so clean as it awaits the arrival of our Orcadian house sitters, charged with looking after things while we spend time in Stromness, one of my favourite places on earth. I have arranged for reasonable weather...............

My extra image is one of our Orcadian house sitters assuming squatter's rights