Having left the emerging springtime UK last Friday, arriving in Estonia was much like travelling back in time three months to mid-winter all over again.

Being English, the weather tends to come up as a topic of conversation and it is interesting to hear people talking of how long and hard this winter has been, especially when the subject turns to how much this winter resembles those of 30 or 40 years ago much like my own experience recently in the UK.

I last visited Estonia in March/April back in 2008 and the contrast to this time is quite marked – thick snow on the ground, daytime temperatures around freezing and most surprising of all, the whole of the harbour frozen over.

As always, a picture speaks a thousand words and the small selection below capture a very wintry Tallinn quite nicely :

Tallinn harbour by the helipad on Tuesday complete with approaching snowstorm.

Tallinn harbour by the port – this is why there are icebreakers at work in the Gulf of Finland.

Wednesday morning view from the apartment balcony after another dumping of snow.

Kadriorg park looking very beautiful in the afternoon sunshine.

Seafront gathering of birdlife near Pirita looking towards central Tallinn.