Maybe it’s because it’s been a long hard winter, or perhaps it’s because I lost my mum, my cat and one of my oldest friends within a few weeks of each other. Who knows? All I know is that unlike previous years I’ve found January and Febuary to be very, very hard work.

We’ve had a few nice days in and among, but generally speaking it’s been cold wet and miserable, and everything is behind.

I have tried my best to look after the wild life in the garden over these cold dark weeks. I’ve already told you about the moorhen, and I saw a hedgehog a couple of nights ago.

Today we had a squirrel on the bird feeder. I have seen him before but never for such a long visit. He was pinching the nuts and burrying them (not very well) in the lawn. In between he ate a few. He is very cute.

I’ve mentioned my little robin friends before. We certainly have 3 who live in the garden. That’s the largest number I’ve seen together at any one time, so I suppose we could have more.

Anyway one of them at least likes to wait for me outside the backdoor and fly down to be fed. I always oblige with a handful of porridge oats.

I noticed the other day that one of them was looking less than handsome. His feathers were a real mess, I don’t know if he’d been in a fight or something.

Well today my little puckered friend came to the birdfeeder at the same time as one of the other robins.

At first I thought there was going to be a fight, but to my surprise the normal robin began to feed the disheveled one. Now I know he can feed himself perfectly well because I’ve seen him do it, but on this occasion he was asking to be fed.

What’s that about then?

He arrived on the 9th of January, and I’ve seen him every day since. Although we do have a pond, it is very small and overgrown, and I’ve never seen him anywhere near it.

Instead he seems to prefer the lawn in front of the house, retreating to Flower Bed 3B if he gets startled.

I can watch him through the kitchen window, and he just wanders around amongst the other birds, sharing their food.

He seems to like seeds, bread and apples. I keep saying ‘he’, but he could be female, as according to my book the sexes look similar. The most striking thing about him is the size of his feet!

I wonder how long he will stay? Wouldn’t it be great if ‘he’ brought his partner to live in the garden and raise a family. Watch this space.

He’s the one who visits infrequently and always gets scared off and bullied by the blackbirds. He’s quite slim, but very handsome and very, very timid.

Today I saw a much bigger specimen, who I assume is a Mistle Thrush (Turdus Viscivorus). Another very handsome bird, but quite chunky in appearance and  more like the size and shape of a blackbird.

I’d put some windfall apples on the lawn and this thrush was tucking into one. A blackbird, who obviously felt the apple was his, was skirting around the thrush in a threatening way, but having no effect.

He tried it several times, and in several directions, he even brought in reinforcements at one point, but the thrush wasn’t for moving. He just kept on eating his apple.

The blackbird finally tried an all-out attack, head down, beak extended, but still no joy.

So, the Mistle Thrush is bigger and braver than the Song Thrush or perhaps blackbirds are just bullies and won’t really take on someone their own size in any serious way.

So maybe size matters even in the bird world.

Happy New Year!

It was already almost dark, the temperature had plummeted, and the forecasters had warned us to expect a severe frost.

Yet there he was, regular as clockwork, having a bath before he went to bed, my little robin friend.

I’m surprised he doesn’t freeze to death going to bed with damp feathers, still I expect he knows what he’s doing.

Yesterday morning we were sat in the kitchen at 11.30 am having a cup of tea. As you can see from the picture the kitchen is a single story construction.

Suddenly a  sparrowhawk swooped in and plucked a poor unsuspecting sparrow from the kitchen roof.

It then landed on the lawn where we were able to get a really good look at it. I’m thinking to myself, “I don’t think I’m going to like this next bit”, but luckily for me (if not the sparrow) it only stayed a few seconds and then flew off.

I’ve seen sparrowhawks in the garden before, but never so close, or for so long and certainly never hunting successfully.

Today I’ve been doing some gardening. Just weeding and general tidying, it’s been a lovely day.

As I was locking the shed I noticed a grey squirrel in the branches above my head. I said hello to him and asked if he’d come for some apples. We still have lots of windfalls.

He skipped through the branches and ran down the trunk of the next tree. Putting his head in a hole he emerged holding a half eaten apple in his mouth, and proceded to nibble away as I watched.

So there you go, squirrels can remember where they’ve hidden their nuts, or at least their apples!

I’m sure anyone who has owned a pet has done this, I know I have, but I also find myself doing something a bit similar with the birds who visit the bird feeder in the garden.

Starlings, crows and magpies, for example, always look big enough to look after themselves, and are quite aggressive, so don’t engender much sympathy. Wrens and coal tits on the other hand are so small and cute and don’t look big enough to be out on their own, so you take a shine to them immediately.

Robins are the garden clowns, bobbing up and down with their bright eyes, red breasts and oh so thin legs, but don’t be fooled, they do have an aggressive streak, particularly with each other.

The long-tailed tits who go everywhere in a gang, remind me of naughty school boys out to cause mischief, and the wood pidgeons and collared doves just seem like their slow and more sensible older siblings.

The chaffinches seem quite aloof and very business like, just getting on with their feeding and ignoring any of the mayhem going on around them, it’s as if they consider themselves too good for such petty bickering, but it is the pheasants who are the real aristocracy, strutting around the garden in their regal finery.

However, the bird that I really like and really feel for is the thrush. Not the most regular visitor to the feeder, but when he does come he always gets chased off by a blackbird. They just don’t want him anywhere near and he scuttles off into the bushes. I feel so sorry for him, he seems so nervous and I just think of him as one of life’s victims.

I don’t think he goes hungry, despite being chased off the food, as our garden is full of snails and slugs, and many times I’ve seen a thrush bashing a poor snail against one of the stepping stones in the lawn. You can hear them doing this if it’s quiet, an unmistakable sound, once you know what it is.

There’s one particular place near the pond that must be one of the favourite places as it is always full of broken snail shells. They really are a handsome bird and listening to their song is an absolute joy.

Then I started to transplant the tomatoes from their pots into the grow bags. By using 5 grow bags and 6 large pots I canaccommodate 21 tomato plants, the remaining 2 will get planted outside.

After that I potted on the remaining seedlings from all my earlier sowings, in an attempt to get a bit of clarity.

Final tally is 125 ‘tall’ hardy perennials, 12 ‘dwarf’ hardy perennials, 12 lupins and 74 lobelia. I also have 7 fuchsias plus some more cuttings still to be sorted. One or two of the perennials look a bit wimpy but I think they will be OK. The majority are lovely, strong little plants.

Over these last few days I’ve spotted what I believe to be two baby pheasants wandering around the garden. They look like a couple of miniature roadrunners. Cute.

My first sighting last year was 25th April and the year before 30th April, so he’s about on schedule.

They swoop and dive over the field with consumate ease, effortlessly catching flies and midges. Their eyesight and reflexes are astounding, as they seem to be able to change direction in a split second, which is just as well when you’re sat on the bench and one is flying straight at your head.

I sowed some sweetcorn today, 36 in total with the hope of getting 30. I did 33 of Unwins F1 Hybrid ‘Supersweet’. The other 3 were a little experiment using seeds I’d saved from our own plants last year. I just want to see if they germinate and how they compare to commercially prepared seeds. Watch this space.