In Algy's opinion, early spring in the wild west Highlands of Scotland was not all that a fluffy bird might hope for, nor indeed quite what someone used to a more "normal" northern spring might imagine… For not only do temperatures tend to stay below 10 degrees (celsius), but the legendary March winds take their job to heart with a great deal more enthusiasm here than in many other places, battering everything in their path, and flattening the flowers of the spring bulbs that had emerged with such enthusiasm as the days grew longer.

And so Algy was not particularly surprised that it was blawin' a hoolie yet again, but after a day of being tossed hither and thither in the driving Scotch mist he felt in need of some rest, so he decided to try to sleep in what he hoped would be the relative comfort of a dense cypress hedge. But when he settled in among the soft, evergreen needles as the day faded into night, Algy found that even here it was necessary to maintain a very firm grip on the branches, and he reflected that although in principle he definitely approved of being rocked to sleep, Nature sometimes went about this task with rather too much vigour…

Mars (March) postcard (1902) by an unknown artist with an illustration of a man riding a bicycle in the March winds and a woman carrying shopping baskets with her skirts being blown around her.

There is also a calendar of the dates in March.

March Winds

There was a terrible roar one night in March as your mother put you to bed. It sounded as if it came from the neighbor’s house up the hill. You told your mother it was a lion. She smiled at you and said it was only the wind before turning out the light. You didn’t ask questions, but you knew she was lying.

Strange dreams came to you all night, and you slept fitfully, your small body tossing the blankets to the floor.

You didn’t have neighbors up the hill the next morning. Your mother told you that the wind blew their house away.

You’d never heard wind like that before, but it wouldn’t be the last time. Every March the roaring wind returned, bringing the dreams with it. Another house would disappear, taken by the March Winds.