Freezing January

January remained throughout an extremely cold month with much snow, sleet and rain, freezing nights and grey days. The first sound to greet me each morning was the plaintiff trill of the robin sitting by the window, patiently waiting – some mornings impatiently as he has flown to the bird table, whilst I am still in the process of filling it. One morning I delightedly watched a covey of eight red legged partridges at the end of the garden, such pretty birds. I always feel an inner glow when I watch them, especially through binoculars and am able to pick out their fine markings. They are a striking looking bird as is the moorhen, this year only one; wandering all over the garden and helping himself to the bird food when he happens near it.

The pond has been frozen for much of January, but now it is liquid again and the moorhen spends most of his day in it. We are also visited daily by a charm of goldfinches, beautiful little birds with red faces, they are drawn to the seeds on a patch of lemon balm plants, Every summer I forget how valuable these plants are and because they seed so well, I cause most of them to be weeded out, forgetting that if I left them in, I would have much more pleasure at this time of year and the birds would certainly profit much more.

Last autumn, two new squirrels found our garden and for the first time this has happened built a drey, it is high up in the silver birch tree, almost on top of a pigeons’ nest. Today I watched the pigeons, the female settled on top of the drey and, as if taking revenge for the placement of it so near to their home, proceeded to mate, after the fourth time they flew to a nearby branch and settled down leaving the drey looking decidedly squashed. The squirrels remain a constant source of interest and pleasure, one morning I watched one eat a goodly amount, then taking the next piece of food with him, he climbed about 25 feet up a leafless tree and sitting on a bare branch ate it, afterwards stretching out along the branch, he fell fast asleep. It was a sunless day with a biting wind and the temperature below zero -- amazing he could sleep stretched out in those conditions with just his fur coat to keep him warm. We have catkins, primroses, aconites, hellebores, the beautifully perfumed viburnum bodnantense and camellias all blooming, so spring must be coming.