February and freezing in France!

I cannot believe that so much time has lapsed since my last posting... it was a very busy end to 2012 and we finally managed to get away for a holiday in January...  I've been working on all the photos taken and will be posting on this over the next while... so watch this space if you'd like a glimpse of S.Africa!

This weekend's weather has finally got me inside for long enough to at last write a posting... many hints of spring colour to be found in the garden already - currently under a light covering of snow, so all looking extra pretty!

The Japanese Quince never disappoints at this time of year especially after pruning it back hard in the Autumn - plenty of blooms guaranteed!

The birds during this weather (for the last few months really!) have been eating us out of house and home!!  Very exciting is that we've got quite a large flock of Siskins in the garden - they've been around now for a while which is the first time I've ever seen this quantity.  During the last 3 years we've been lucky to see one or two.  The pair on the niger seed are a male (on left) and female (on right)

Here you can see a couple of male Siskins on the niger seed - easy to spot with the very black plumage on the tops of the heads!

This little Robin I caught posing for next year's Christmas cards!!

 

Mahonia Aquifolium is great for bright winter colour - less perfumed than  x media "Winter Sun" but a welcome shrub in our own garden.

There are many Helebores out in the garden right now - not coping quite so well with the hard frosts which leave them bowed down like this one until the sun comes out and they quickly recover!

Pulmonaria faithfully blooms at this time of year... I'm just waiting for some of the other varieties that I have to come into bloom which usually flower slightly later.

I couldn't do a winter posting without mentioning the Snowdrops... have even noticed the odd bee enjoying the pollen from these little flowers over this past week!

We're very lucky to have an area of mixed woodland at the bottom of our garden bordered by a stream (more like a river at this time of year).... this is what this looked like on Saturday morning...

A picture from the fields on my way back from my walk with our dog Lucy ... by this time the snow had really started to melt and unfortunately it has almost all gone now... just waiting for some more now!