Nearly all my wishes from last month’s ‘News’ have come true; a cold wind blew in from the east and with it came hundreds of fieldfares, and a few redwings, and a few hard frosts to ripen the fruiting wood on the trees, and my snow is forecast for tomorrow!

There were still plenty of apples left under the trees. They were beginning to look a bit messy but now they are providing a feast for a hundred or so fieldfares so I am glad I didn’t tidy them up. My mum has never seen such a gathering of birds just outside her window and has been enthralled by their antics. Blackbirds try to join the party but are soon chased off, while squabbles break out among the fieldfares themselves. Then something frightens them and they nearly all fly off but a few are braver and stay. After a few minutes the apple tree is full of birds, then they drop to the ground like autumn leaves. One of nature’s winter treats.

I had been waiting for the wildlife pond to freeze over so that I could cut back the reeds. It is so much easier to rack the cut stems from the ice than fish them out of the water. This year, after reading a tip in a magazine, I used my battery operated hedge trimmers to cut them. Oh, so much easier than secateurs or loppers; the trimmer just glided over the ice. It was so quick; I just needed to step a little further out to reach the last few….. CRACK!! You guessed it, in over my knees, oh it was cold!! Ted, my dog, thought it was great fun and brought me a ball – shame it wasn’t a warm towel! Never mind I got the job done…. where there is no sense there is no feeling! Wendy Bathurst