Photographically speaking, I shot it through the window several times since the snow arrived. Preceded by exclaiming "the bloody deer is out the front AGAIN!!! Where's my camera".

Secondly, there are a lot of bird boxes in place here and there of varying shapes and sizes. Plus we have three separate feeding stations of hanging feeders each with a mix of different foods and water. The stations are located in the open, under a tree and by the hedge to attract different birds. 

Well, you can guess what I'm about to say. A lot of minutes of tumbleweed in our empty garden. It is baffling that as soon as you want to see anything then somehow they all stay away. The weather was fine, it was a sensible time of day, nothing raucous going on to scare them.... I was a bit annoyed again.

Our final tally doesn't sound too bad but there was not much action to show for an hour of observation.

1 Goldfinch

2 Pigeons (there's usually bloody loads, all making a noise and trying to get fruity in the branches)

2 Blackbirds (again, usually plenty, these birds are the tame ones round here and hang out for worms while we do the gardening instead of robins)

3 Great tits

2 Robins

3 Blue tits

3 Dunnocks

and a magpie that flew over but we can't count. 

I did anticipate seeing a starling, chaffinch, collared doves, crow (they ruin the feeders by their heavy landings and brutal peckings, I try to shoo them off).

Pictures of birds from yesterday when of course they all decide to hang about. Up the top, goldfinch enjoying the conifer seeds. On the bird bath, the song thrush.

Let's see what this spring brings!

Take care,

Sophie

How do you tackle a flooded path with nowhere to get round it? With great difficulty. Shimmying along prickly hedges, tentatively stepping on half sunken stones and branches. It wasn't the most successful of walks, it's sad to see everywhere looking so forlorn and post-apocalyptic. 

Deer print?

Ice and a big boot to break it. It's been so cold.

This winter it's felt like we've had a fair dose of cold weather, which I imagine is restorative to much of the environment. Many seeds dropped in autumn need a proper spell of cold so that they come to life in spring, 'vernalisation' I think it's called. Perhaps the same can be said for the people of the UK.