Winterish

Plum tree in snow

We had one day of snow - an inch or two, which didn't last long - and since then it has been a mix of rain and wind, with a few more snow showers and frosty days, but nothing serious.  It has been mostly cold, with temperatures down to at least minus 5C one night; the greenhouse has been quite comfortable though (reaching 15C one day when the sun got on it!).  It's winter of a sort.


The Birdwatch count was quite respectable this year, and for once genuinely representative of what has been turning up here recently.  The birds are definitely pairing up, and most species came in two-by-two: robins, dunnocks, blue tits, great tits, starlings and pigeons, with several sparrows and blackbirds and one each of wren, chaffinch, collared dove and greater spotted woodpecker.  Other birds that have been around but didn't make the count were a pied wagtail which only comes in really cold weather, and a song thrush that seemed to have broken away from a flock of fieldfares and redwings down in the field beyond the bottom of the garden.  We've also had a flock of partridges - up to 30 - coming in the late afternoons.

Galanthus atkinsii

I haven't been tempted out into the garden much, though there's a lot I really need to be getting on with.  Some weeding in the veg garden, and under the winter honeysuckle, was much appreciated by the robins.  I'd like to clear the ground under the Viburnum davidii with a view to moving some snowdrops there; I see that the Arum marmoratum italicum, which was originally planted a few feet away and hasn't been seen for a few years, has positioned itself under the Viburnum, which is pleasing if rather puzzling!  The snow stopped the comfrey flowers, but the double snowdrops are now starting, and there's a hellebore flowering under the back of the winter honeysuckle.  The signs of spring approaching are there if you look for them!