Journal

Flooding in the fields, Callander, Scotland

A narrow weather system stretched from Cuba to the Scottish Highlands last week, dropping enough rain in 48 hours to turn this valley into something unrecognisable. The carpark signs poke above what’s now a temporary loch, field boundaries dissolve into open water, and mist hovers just above the surface - that peculiar effect you get when cold air meets warmer water.

The streams are running fast, carrying lichen-covered alder branches downstream, but if you look closely at what’s still standing, you can see the catkins already forming, tight and waiting. Even in flood, even in December, the trees know spring is coming. The water will recede, the fields will reappear, but for now everything’s suspended - neither fully winter nor quite preparing for what comes next.

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