Well what sort of winter is this?
As has been the case in much of the UK, here in the Midlands our very mild winter continues. Apart from about three cold days last week when I had to scrape the windscreen and break ice on the ponds for the birds, our temperatures have remained unseasonably high.
Yesterday, I read the most unusual tweet from Cornwall - the first Swallow sighting. On January 19th - bizarre.
Anyway, here in my garden, it means that unless the temperatures are really low as they were briefly, an absence of many birds that I have been accustomed to seeing over the last few winters.
I guess with a bumper seed and berry crop in the fields and hedgerows, much of which is still available in abundance out in the countryside, has meant that the birds just haven't had to come foraging in the urban environment so much.
This time last year, I was filling an 18" tall sunflower heart seed feeder every day. Now I just put in enough to cover the bottom holes and end up throwing it away after a couple of weeks as it is uneaten.
Finally, a quick alert for something dear to my heart that I would ask you to engage in, if you feel strongly enough about it. The Hedgehog Society are carrying out monitoring and need your sightings. Link is here so please support if you can.
Right gotta go and cook supper now.
Have a great weekend
As has been the case in much of the UK, here in the Midlands our very mild winter continues. Apart from about three cold days last week when I had to scrape the windscreen and break ice on the ponds for the birds, our temperatures have remained unseasonably high.
Yesterday, I read the most unusual tweet from Cornwall - the first Swallow sighting. On January 19th - bizarre.
Anyway, here in my garden, it means that unless the temperatures are really low as they were briefly, an absence of many birds that I have been accustomed to seeing over the last few winters.
I guess with a bumper seed and berry crop in the fields and hedgerows, much of which is still available in abundance out in the countryside, has meant that the birds just haven't had to come foraging in the urban environment so much.
This time last year, I was filling an 18" tall sunflower heart seed feeder every day. Now I just put in enough to cover the bottom holes and end up throwing it away after a couple of weeks as it is uneaten.
Finally, a quick alert for something dear to my heart that I would ask you to engage in, if you feel strongly enough about it. The Hedgehog Society are carrying out monitoring and need your sightings. Link is here so please support if you can.
Right gotta go and cook supper now.
Have a great weekend
Martin
Martin,
ReplyDeleteit has been a crazy winter. Just ask Dave who lives here in North Carolina (USA). Tomorrow is supposed to be near 70 and then Sunday may not make it out of the 40's. Not even a flurry this year.I saw some flowers that had bloomed, then died with the next cold spell. Much of the USA has been without snow this year. Today I went out and did some shooting. I was riding home and felt something on my neck. It was an inch worm. We also have moths buzzing around our front porch light. This is not typical of January....
Cheers Scott. I noticed a couple of moths in my headlights on the Friday drive home too
ReplyDeleteMartin