British weather is never boring. At the beginning of the week I was working in shirt sleeves in bright spring-like sun and by Friday it was long johns and snowballs!! A little bit of snow and Britain seems to grind, or should that be slide to a halt; cars at a standstill, trains cancelled, schools closed. Not so in the natural world, “the M1″ of foxes and badgers that runs through our little wood at the top was just as busy as usual. There were so many it was impossible to see individual prints until they reached the end of the path and went their various ways. Foxes were numerous, the big prints probably belonging to the fine dog fox that we often see on the garden, but there were much smaller ones as well all criss-crossing the garden. one even seemed to have played a game with an odd piece of pond under-lay that I have been using as a kneeler whilst working on the paving stones of the new patio. There was also one very big set of badger prints that came up and around the bird feeders looking for spilled peanuts. There were definitely more badger tracks than we had ever seen before. It seems that Chipperfield is in tune with the national trend of booming badger populations. I love snow, how wonderful everything looked decked in sparkling snow and I was having a day off from the farm and didnt have to travel. Just the job!
The Cotoniasters looked wonderful against a white background: every branch loaded with fat scarlet berries. I dont think the birds like them that much as they always seem to leave them until last, but today, 5th February there are half a dozen Fieldfares gobbling them up. Fieldfares are one of the largest thrushes, about the same size as a Mistle thrush but with a grey head and rump. They are winter visitors, coming across the North Sea from Scandinavia for our milder climate. They mostly eat worms and other insects from grassland, but when the ground is frozen berries and fallen fruit come in very handy. Many more cold days and the trees will be stripped clean.

Wendy Bathurst