Spring is in the Air

Today the sun was shining and a warm wind was blowing. The snow and ice around our house isn't showing much signs of disappearing but on slopes that get the full force of the sun the snow is going very quickly.
This picture was taken on a walk just a few kilometers from our house.  Another sign of spring was the first northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) of the season (also known as the peewit). It was optimistically searching the few areas of grass that were snow free.
One reason the snow is melting so soon is that there hasn't been much snow this winter so there is only a thin layer. 
We heard on the radio that there was a shortage of water in several parts of Sweden, including ours. The whole of the last 12 months was much drier than usual with reduced rain and snow and now ground water levels are unusually low. 
For now, we are very happy with the spring weather with its blue skies and lapwings.
There's a backblip today for the 10 March, showing the last skiing day of my trip to the Dolomites.