Enjoying the last days of snow it would seem?

As today is partly raining/sleeting and generally pretty disgusting, I decided to cheer myself up and you hopefully, by posting the photos I took on my walk yesterday late afternoon - it was WONDERFUL!

I've always loved the snow and any chance to get out in it, wherever I've been has been taken! There are lots of places to walk around here without taking the car which is just the best and one such walk is about an hour in length and follows a track most of the way - going gently a little bit up and down but reasonably level , surrounded by a mix of fields, meadow and woodland. As the sun was going down with temperatures dropping below freezing around 5.20/5.30pm yesterday all the lovely hues of pink and orange were reflecting in the snow... real food for the soul!

Nothing better than coming in from the cold and enjoying the benefits of a lovely log fire and a cup of tea :-)

Another noteable thing these last two days in particular is the quantity of bird food that is being gobbled up!! We seem to have lots of very hungry birds and so today have put up more feeders as well as a coconut which I've split in half - they seem to love these! I don't think we've had the same quantity of birds here this year as we have the last two and wonder if other people have had this experience - do hope that this isn't as a result of them surviving the cold. We haven't yet had the Nuthatches as last year, very few visits from the Great Spotted Woodpecker and as yet no Siskins or Brambling... the little Black Caps were new to the garden but other than them - it's mostly lots of Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Blackbirds, a Song Thrush, Robins, Wrens (a garden visitor but not to the bird feeders), Dunnocks, Redwings (in our woodland) House Sparrows, Jays and Magpies. - I think that covers them all!

As well as lots of food, don't forget that birds need a regular supply of water too!
If any of you are considering adding a small tree to your garden that would be good for wildlife - our "Everest" Crab Apple has been wonderful - there are still one or two crab apples remaining and have been a wonderful source of food for the Black Caps, Blackbirds and Thrush during this cold weather... the Greenfinches and Robin (seen hiding!) seem to enjoy this as a place of refuge too! The male Greenfinches in particular looking rather stunning along with the deep red of the apples!



And on a happy note I'll leave you with a photo of our snowman... a very funny incident involving Lucy - our dog who on coming around the corner from the woodland in the dark the day he'd been made started barking madly and jumping about. We'd infact used 3 dog biscuits to create the mouth of the snowman and before I realised what she' d infact eaten part of the mouth - such a typical trait of a labrador! Take care and keep warm Mx