Tuesday 25 December 2012

Festive balloons

A festive start to Christmas Day, when we looked out of the end kitchen window to see a bunch of bright red and green balloons, caught high in the birch tree.


Sunday 16 December 2012

Foxes, primroses and woodpeckers

A noisy night last night, foxes were calling back and forth to each other in the early hours of the morning.

This is unusual for this time of year as it normally happens late January, during February or early March.


Primroses are still blooming in the garden as they have all year and I notice the early arrival of fresh green cowslip leaf rosettes in the front garden.


We continue to be visited many birds including all three woodpeckers, whose name is so apt, as when I go near the woodpile I see evidence of their visits in the holes pecked in the piled wood. The green woodpecker can be spotted clinging onto the sides of trees but more often (daily) on the lawn where he/she is busily pecking and poking into the grassy sward for ants and other goodies.

Sunday 9 December 2012

Silver Grey Skies


My son lives in Seattle and he was telling me recently about the silver-grey skies there at this time of year.


Imagine my surprise when I saw the very same thing this evening over the bungalow garden.


Thursday 6 December 2012

Magpies, redwings and fieldfares

Two  striking magpies sat in the cherry tree, from here they have good visibility throughout the whole garden. As soon as a squirrel appears they drop to the ground, ready to follow and harass him until the biscuit is either eaten or buried, if it is the latter they immediately dig it up or they collect it from its hiding place and either eat it or hide it themselves.


The pretty redwings are here, they come from Scandinavian countries to feed and fatten up during the winter months, as our weather is generally milder than their native weather. They are usually to be found in mixed flocks with fieldfares on berried shrubs and trees.


They stay in our garden until they have cleared all of the berries and the malus of its fruit.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Seagulls

We awoke to a white world --- snow covering everything. No sooner was the food on the lawn than the seagulls arrived in an enormous flock, looking stunningly beautiful as they descended with their white wings held open and aloft.


The gulls and other birds were very hungry and at one point this part of the lawn was covered by jays, pigeons, magpies and two crows.


After the larger birds had flown the smaller ones came, even as I was putting more food out on the lawn and bird table they hungrily arrived. Blackbirds, robins, bluetits, great tits, long tailed tits and dunnocks.

Later we were visited by a lone squirrel, who, when I opened the window to feed him, was overcome by hunger and he greedily snatched the food from my hand.

Tuesday 4 December 2012

Cotoneaster berries and hungry squirrels

Awoke this morning to find the cotoneaster bereft of berries, an early morning flock of redwings and fieldfares  must have paid this wonderfully berried cotoneaster a last visit to finally clear the berries. We probably won't see any more fieldfares or red wings until the end of the year, when they again visit this country.


I enjoyed feeding the squirrels, especially this little chap who seems to have taken over from my scarred face squirrel friend, in that he waits at the window for food and is always gentle when taking it. He very often just sits right by the window while eating.