A Quiet Month

February has been a quiet month with not much happening in the garden. Everyone is waiting for spring.

The weather has been awful - grey, dark snowy and rainy. I think the animals are as fed up as I am.

The only things flowering are the snowdrops. They seed themselves every year and have grown over a large area.

The only good thing about this weather is that it has driven the deer into the garden, even in daytime to search for food. They come right up to the house and it has been wonderful watching them. They are eating things that they would never normally eat, such as heather. I guess they are desperate.

It is now official that this has been the worst winter for more than 30 years in this area. In other parts of the UK, it has been even worse.

I hope that no damage has been done to the plants and that everything will spring into life when it warms up a bit.

Roe Deer Convention?

There have been so many roe deer in the garden over the last week, I am having trouble identifying them.

Last week I spotted this threesome and went outside to try to get a photo. They, of course, spotted me immediately and did not stay long. I must try to improve my deer stalking skills!

It is difficult to tell, but I think these were two males and one female.

Yesterday, I went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee and spotted this roe buck cleaning up the seed under the bird feeders (just 3 metres from my kitchen window). I had the wrong lens on the camera but no time to change it, so all the photos were close-ups.

You can see his little antlers just pushing through!

I think the extreme weather this winter has been great for wildlife spotting. The creatures are more desperate than usual for food and are willing to venture out in daylight to find it.