Butterflies and birds

 Since Saturday's torrential rain, the garden seems ful of butterflies, bees and birds. Not all of them would sit still enough to be photographed though....

Buddleia starting to prove a major attraction

even Cabbage Whites look pretty when not eating cabbages

A very squashed-looking baby robin

Allotment helper

We're often joined at the allotment by a robin - presumably the same one each time. He sits and sings almost within arm's reach but generally flies off when I get the camera out.

Here he is at last though - not brilliant photos as they're taken on my phone.

Birds in the bath

 One of the presents from my recent birthday was a bird bath. It needs a proper place to sit but for now it's on the patio table.

I expected to have to wait quite a while before any birds would approach it

but after a lot of noises in the bushes today - "You go first","No, you go" -
this sparrow investigated it

and then went back to fetch a friend!

Keeping the birds off.

The blueberries are just starting to ripen so it's time to discourage the birds from eating them.












So I've strung up some rattling, flashing milk bottle tops.

A Family Visit

 I've had a family of sparrows visiting regularly for the past week or so. The little ones are being taught where to find the bird table and the best spots for insects and bugs. 

I've seen the parents feeding the babies but not managed to catch that on film.

 These aren't the best of photos but I've had to stand inside and photograph through the windows - even then the noises from the camera startle them at times.

Allotment in the snow

We decided yesterday to have a trip to the allotment - the first since the snow began.
We didn't take the car though somebody had tried to from the tyre marks.

 Everything was pretty much ok apart from the kale which hadn't been covered by netting. Before the snow it being ignored but with the bad weather the birds (pigeons mainly) are searching for every scrap of food - unfortunately they liked the look of my dinner.

 With more snow forecast for this weekend (it's falling as I blog) we thought it best to clear the polytunnel roof and the tops of the coldframe. Surprisingly, the lettuce in there seems ok.

 The netted brassicas were protected from both birds and the weight of the snow but I decided to clear them as best I could before the poles collapsed.

Maybe this weekend will see the end of this cold snap and we'll be back to proper gardening.

A Second Week of Snow

Winter jasmine outside the kitchen window is the only spot of colour in the garden right now.







 




 The first snow of this winter fell last Monday, never thawed away and over the weekend more was added to it.

The bird table is suddenly busy with sparrows, blackbirds, robins, blue-, coal- and longtailed tits and more unusual visitors - redwings and fieldfares - in trees and bushes

 the vegetable patch is hidden...

...and the greenhouse almost is!

 the old play house looks like a cabin in the forest

 and plantpots have acquired strange new shapes

We're now watching the weather forecasts and wondering how much longer this will last.....

Surprise find

We were a bit worried about the roots of a cotoneaster growing against the garage wall. They were starting to lift the slab path and could have been heading for the foundations! As there are other cotoneasters already growing there, we decided to chop this one down - and in doing so discovered this bird nest (fortunately empty at this time of year). I thought we'd had blackbirds nesting there but hadn't been sure as when spotted on his way back to the nest with grass or twigs, the blackbird would fly off in a different direction.
Now the leaves have fallen we've discovered more nests in the silver birch and rowan which we weren't aware of. Obviously the birds are clever at putting me off the scent!

continuing snow

more snow again today. the ground's been covered now for a week -since New Year's Day. we've had an increasing number of birds coming for food including rather shy redwings. unfortunately, the almost resident blackbird doesn't approve of the extra visitors so in an attempt to feed them we've made another, temporary, birdtable from a seed tray fastened to a fencing post. hopefully the birds will approve.