Winter Wanes

It has been a long, hard, cold winter, but at last the temperature has risen; days are noticeably warmer and nights less cold. Fat furry bees are beginning to buzz about, banging into windows. Down by the river we noticed a mass of bright yellow on the far south facing bank, further investigation showed it to be more than a dozen clumps of coltsfoot. The floods have at last subsided and the river has returned to normal. The riverside woodlands are made pretty by drifts of snowdrops and winter aconites, the ground underfoot is still a bit marshy, but much drier than for a long time. Catkins are stretching out and yellowing up, and the rich brown sticky buds of the horse chestnut are daily swelling, while scattered about are many hollow, black shells of last autumn's fruit of this same tree, their chance of growing and reproducing lost to the months spent in the river's wild winter torrents.

Although the male pheasants still companionably share the garden this will soon change, as they look for mates and rivalry sets in. I haven't seen any female pheasants for the last 2 -3 months, this is unusual as we have never before been without them. The moorhen has returned to the river, we shall only see him very occasionally now until next winter when he will again take up residency with us, unlike the ducks he never becomes tame always running away when he sees us and never approaching us for food, although happy to eat food put out for other creatures. The last few days Mrs. Duck has been slipping away from Mr. Duck and searching the garden for a good nesting place. Mr. Duck waits impatiently for her return, anxiously looking around and calling with loud quacks, sometimes he searches for her, wandering all over the garden, peering under bushes and into overgrown areas, back and forth he wanders but to no avail, as he never finds her. She hides her nest well, only once have I ever found it and that was because the ducklings, running in and out, gave it away. It was remarkably well camouflaged; I would never have found it on my own. The pigeons have lost their first clutch of eggs to the squirrels, and are now building a new nest. The magpie has built her untidy nest from twigs and vegetation high in a lleylandii overlooking the garden and it is a perfect spot for keeping her hungry eye on other nests in the area. The lawns are full of moss due to the very wet winter, much to the delight of the birds, I have seen tits, thrushes and blackbirds all collecting for their nests.