As I write these notes (Jan. we are in the middle of a cold snap. The coldest for a couple of years I think, as I have had to carry buckets of water to the chickens down at the farm, as the main supply to the hen house is frozen solid.
I love the crisp days of winter and always look forward to snow, but just at the moment I haven’t got time for the 900 yard dash, carrying two pails of water, from the farmhouse to the hen house! When I was young it was always a challenge, almost a game, to get the hen house water main running but now I see why my dad hated it so!
I don’t suppose the wild birds like it much either and they certainly have been pleased with all my offerings at the bird table. A band of a dozen or so long tailed tits have been regular visitors to the table in the last few days. It’s a job to count them as they flit from the lilac tree to the table and back, but its nice to see so many and hopefully our offerings will keep them going as harsh weather can take its toll on such small birds. I have been putting some food out on the ground as well because some birds, like the dunnock and the wren only feed low down or on the ground.
Some girls get fancy underwear or French perfume for Christmas, but I got a cycle helmet and some paving stones! Much more useful! Now that our son has passed his driving test and I no longer have a passenger I am back on a bicycle again. One can see so much more at a slower pace and I try to stick to the quieter roads. As I have peddled along the lanes I have seen good-sized flocks of mixed thrushes: mostly red wings with Mistle thrushes and Fieldfares, flying from the holly trees. They seem to systematically strip the trees one by one, hardly leaving a single berry on each tree. There was a good crop of holly berries this year, but I don’t go along with the saying that it means a cold winter. I think it means we didn’t have a sharp late frost last spring when the holly flowers were setting.
The paving stones are going down near the new wildlife pond where we are having a “log cabin” built. We are going to put our camping gaz stove in it for afternoon tea and morning coffee. “Ooh” said the cabin sales lady ” just like a Wendy house”!
Wendy Bathurst