End of mild January

Helleborus x hybridus

More colour is developing in the garden: the winter aconites are starting to bloom, and the two hellebores (Helleborus x hybridus) near the back door are showing their first flowers.  The garden is slowly starting to wake up again!

 

Winter aconites

As January draws to a close, I’m gradually getting back to gardening, with the garlic and shallots going into the veg plot.  I still can’t bend down properly so the rows are going to be a little wobbly and some of the cloves aren’t as upright as they ought to be, but still ….  There are two short rows of the newly purchased garlic ‘Kingsland Wight’ and two rows of the old ‘Edenrose’, plus two rows of shallots; and an old sheet of fleece over the top, to let them root without being tweaked out by the birds. 

Talking of birds, it was the Big Garden Birdwatch this past weekend.   We had a good showing across the species, with four blackbirds and three robins (and of course ten sparrows).  There was even a quick sighting of a song thrush; a mistle thrush turned up earlier in the afternoon, but not during the one-hour ‘watch’ period, so wasn’t included.  There were a chaffinch, goldfinch and two long-tailed tits as well, plus the usual woodpigeons, collared doves, blue tit and dunnock.  No pheasants or woodpeckers, unusually, nor any starlings or wrens, but it wasn’t a bad count.

There were three red kites wheeling above the field behind us this morning; presumably they are pairing up as well.

It has been rather blustery and chilly, but the two recent storms hit much further north, and the weather hasn’t been especially cold for the time of year, with a couple of days being decidedly mild.  Are we going to get a winter?