Winter is coming

On our return after autumn travels, it’s clear that the garden has moved into early winter mode, with the wildlife that comes with that.  The weather isn’t particularly cold for November, and although there has been some morning mist there has been relatively little low cloud; but the light has moved from the soft yellow light of autumn to the cold blue light of winter, and the birds that had dispersed for the autumn are back in their winter quarters.  The migrants, fieldfares and redwings, have arrived too.  Although no food would have been put out for them in our absence, the plentiful cooking apples and holly berries in the garden are a prime attraction.

Plenty of cooking apples ...

.... and holly berries

The collared doves and woodpigeons, including our lame friend Lefty, never really went far away, and are still hanging around in considerable numbers.  Likewise the sparrows, who enjoy the bathing facilities, and our two robins, who are again competing for territory.  The thin nervous robin’s bad foot appears to have healed, and he/she is defending the patio from the other robin and occasionally from the dunnocks.  There are several finches around, including a small flock of goldfinches, a pair of chaffinches and at least one greenfinch, as well as blue and great tits and three or four blackbirds.  The pair of mistle thrushes have been sitting in the big ash tree from time to time, along with a large number of starlings; they like to sit in the top of the tree in the afternoon to catch the last of any sun.  They will miss that tree when it’s taken down.

There have been a couple of surprises: a male blackcap, possibly on passage to somewhere a little warmer for the winter, and a grey wagtail.

The hedgehog has presumably gone into hibernation, but other four-legged visitors have been seen.  The squirrel is a regular, digging up the hazelnuts that it buried in the lawn (and occasionally in the veg plot’s woodchip paths) over the autumn.  D spotted a fine adult fox one day, something that we suspect visits the garden from time to time but is rarely seen.  And another day we had a weasel running around the patio; it had obviously found a mouse or vole nest and was taking its prey, one after another, somewhere else to eat.  Well, if you encourage wildlife into your garden you can’t be too picky about what will turn up; not all wildlife is cuddly.