Ticking off a seasonal wish

A return of the seasons is top of the Christmas list for Mungo Ingleby, who suggests a proper winter would also have the satisfying side bonus of tempering an increase in ticks

- Colin Macleod

I STRUGGLE a bit with Christmas wishlists. I have a fairly settled sporting armoury and if I am lucky enough to receive a book here, something edible or drinkable there and a new stuffed pheasant for Aggie, Sporting Lets' dog of the year, then I am a happy man. Instead, my Christmas wish, in an exceedingly British fashion, is weather based and would be for a return of the seasons.

In recent years these have become less defined, and winter has appeared fleetingly – if at all. We can get snow, particularly in February and sometimes lots of it, but it does not last. Yesterday's snow and ice is today's 12°C, pouring rain and subsequent destructive flood. Early this year the temperature in Altnaharra dropped to -18.9°C and 24 hours later it was +11°C: a swing of more than 29 degrees. The result of these wild oscillations is that nothing in nature quite knows where it stands. Birds start then abort their nesting; bats emerge then beat a hasty retreat; there are low, cold flows then muddy torrents; and last year I saw a mayfly and, sadly, a brood of doomed ducklings in November.