Black buds of ash

Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!

Home-Thoughts, From Abroad by Robert Browning 1845

Well, Robert, the elm trees might be in tiny leaf in England, but they aren't in Northern Scotland. Here, together with the ash trees and the rest, their buds remain tightly clamped shut against the Arctic blasts that continue to blow across this desolate land.