At the beginning of this week the weather forecasters warned of cold temperatures and a severe frost on Wednesday night, time for action then.

The gunnera, which I thought had perished last winter, had rallied during the summer months, but is sadly a shadow of it’s former self. Nevertheless, it needed covering in the event of frost so out came all the old sheets and towels and lots of half bricks.

All tender, potted up plants were brought into the relative warmth of the conservatory. It has a rather large hole in the roof which I’ve stuffed with newspaper, not pretty but hopefully effective.

I also decided to look after my little feathered friends and put the bird feeder up. Normally I wait until the first week in November, but given the forecast I decided to do it early.

I didn’t put all the paraphernalia out, just a tube of nuts and one of seeds, plus a dried sunflower head I’d saved from the summer.

In previous years it’s taken them about an hour to start feeding, but this year, despite the frost arriving as promised, I’ve only seen a couple of sparrows making a half-hearted attempt to land on the seed feeder.

I’m really disappointed, as I was trying to help. I must be too early. It will be interseting to see if things liven up the first week in November.