What happened to Spring?

It's officially springtime but I am not sure that Mother Nature realises this! What a long winter this has been and there is no let up.

We had a couple of inches of snow (5 cms) in the last 24 hours. That is very little compared to some parts of the UK and we had little disruption. However, the plants and trees still think it's winter. There are no traces of green on the trees.



The animals and birds are also confused. The cock pheasants are following the females around the garden displaying their beautiful colours. The females are not interested. Today's snow dampened this guy's ardour.





Some of the plants are soldiering on despite the weather. The snowdrops have almost finished flowering and these crocuses were making the most of some of the rare sunshine a couple of weeks ago.



Springtime is my favourite time of year. It is Easter next week. Can we please have some decent weather to get out in the garden and enjoy it?

Big Garden Birdwatch

This weekend, the Big Garden Birdwatch is taking place in the UK. Hopefully thousands of people will be taking part by counting the birds spotted during the period of an hour, any time during the weekend. The results are submitted to the RSPB and provide useful feedback about the health of the UK bird population.

I did my hour this morning, just watching the birds I saw in the garden from the comfort of my house!

The day dawned bright and sunny and the rain during the night has washed away most of the snow. There were plenty of birds and animals around making the most of the better weather.

Here is my count:

• 2 x blackbirds
• 3 x blue tits
• 1 x carrion crow
• 2 x coal tits
• 1 x dunnock
• 1 x great spotted woodpecker
• 3 x great tits
• 9 x long-tailed tits
• 2 x magpies
• 2 x marsh tits
• 1 x nuthatch
• 6 x pheasants
• 2 x robin
• 2 x stock doves
• 11 x wood pigeons
• 1 x wren.

That is 16 different species in total and does not include the green woodpecker who came along a bit later and the sparrowhawk who was sitting on top of the bird feeder this afternoon!






It was good to see the sun today after a couple of weeks of very dull dreary and cold weather.

I have been putting food out for the animals and birds while the snow has been on the ground. One afternoon last week there were 5 muntjacs on the back lawn vying for the food! The guy above was one of them and was very aggressive towards another male who tried to get in on the act. He was a bit more condescending to the females and youngster.

A New Baby!

The snow is still here and it's cold and miserable, but my spirits were lifted this afternoon when one of the Muntjacs brought her new baby to visit!






This little cutie is probably only 2 - 3 weeks old. It is tiny and complete with spots and was keeping close to Mum.






I hope there is enough food to keep it alive in this bitter weather.





Hopefully more photographs when it becomes a bit more adventurous!

Daffodils and Snow

An interesting week. On Wednesday I discovered this patch of daffodils in the garden which seem to have been flowering for some time. A touch of spring!

On Friday, winter arrived with 15 cms of snow.

Going back to Wednesday - a glorious sunny day tempted the Roe Deer family to visit. The doe and her twins born last May, who are now the same size as she is, spent most of the afternoon on the front lawn, eating anything they could find and washing it down with water from the bird bath!











The tough winter means the deer, both roe and muntjacs, are spending a lot of time in the garden. I guess there are more tasty shrubs and grass in the garden than in the woods. The Muntjacs especially visit numerous times each day.

It snowed all day on Friday and the weather has remained dull and miserable ever since.

The bird feeders are overrun with small birds - blue tits, coal tits, great tits and long-tailed tits. The robins, blackbirds and pheasants are congregating beneath the feeders to catch to the crumbs and dropped seeds.

Here is a photo of one of the Muntjacs with a little robin in the snow, taken this afternoon.

The temperature has not risen above freezing for the last 3 days - tough for the creatures with little shelter.

Good Riddance 2012

The last day of 2012 and true to this years form, it is continuing to rain. It's official - 2012 is the wettest year on record.

As I write this, it is pouring down and under the bird feeder outside the kitchen window there is a very bedraggled muntjac eating the bird seed alongside an even more bedraggled pheasant. No sign of any little birds - they are all sheltering from the deluge.

Looking back over the year, it has certainly been different to previous years, mostly due to the weather. The plants, animals and birds have all suffered. We started the year with a drought and unseasonably high temperatures in March. Everything changed in April when it became stormy and wet. It seems like it has been wet ever since.

We are lucky to live at the top of a hill and therefore not subject to flooding like some poor souls who have had their homes (and their Christmas) ruined. However, we have lost a few trees to the stormy winds. On the plus side, this winter has been remarkably warm so far.

Let's hope that 2013 will be an improvement for all of us.





Over the last few weeks, the deer have been frequent visitors. The Muntjac family are around every day like clockwork. The little one is growing quite big now and has lost its spots. The photo above shows the buck and the doe.



The Roe Deer twins, born last May, are also regular visitors and are still sometimes seen with their mother. These photos, taken about 3 weeks ago, show that the twins spend much of their time together. They are easy to identify because one of them has a small tear in one of its ears.



Food must be in short supply in the woods because they came right up to the house in broad daylight when these photos were taken.



As we say goodbye to 2012, I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. Let us hope that the elements are kinder to us in 2013!

Happy Family!

Following on from my last post, I now understand completely why the muntjacs were so aggressive with the fox. I think the photo above explains it - a very happy little family!

It is quite unusual to be able to photograph the buck, doe and fawn together. This photo was taken through my office window. It was very sunny but the deer were in the shade, so difficult lighting conditions.

It is also interesting that they come each day at around 3.00pm. It used to be 4.00pm but they did not change their clocks when we went back to GMT from British Summertime!




The little one is a real cutie but likes to stay close to Mum.



Mum spends a lot of timing grooming it - giving it a good lick all over.




Autumn continues with lots of rain. The water table is now so high that the smallest amount of rain causes flooding.

Many of the leaves are still on the trees with some beautiful autumn colours but the evenings are now getting darker and winter is on its way.

Animal Wars

It is a long time since I posted. The reason being that nothing interesting has been happening in the garden - that I have seen, anyway.

Very little is flowering, the animals have been scarce - just the occasional glimpse of a roe deer, muntjac or hare, and nothing noteworthy is going on in the bird world . . . until this week!

A few days ago I went out for a walk and found a little bird dead on the patio. It had obviously hit the window. The interesting thing was that it was a little Willow Warbler (I think), a tiny, pretty little bird. I continued on my walk and decided to pick it up and put it in the bushes out of the way on my return.

When I got back half an hour later, all that remained was a pile of feathers and a few entrails :( I guess there was a magpie around somewhere with a full tummy.

The following day, early in the morning I was just getting down to work in my office when I saw out of the corner of my eye, a tail disappear into the shrubbery next to the driveway. I registered that I did not recognise the tail. It was furry (so not a rat) but definitely not a squirrel. I watched for a while and out came a stoat!

It was too big for a weasel so must have been a stoat. I could not see its tail this time, so was unable to check for the classic black tip to the tail. I grabbed my camera in a bit of a panic but sadly did not manage a photo before it disappeared. My first encounter with a stoat and no photo - I was devastated!

This morning dawned grey and cloudy but when I opened the curtains there was a battle going on between 2 muntjacs, a buck and a doe, and a fox. The fox was trying to attack them and they were attacking back, chasing the fox all over the garden.

The photo above shows a lull in the fighting. Sadly, it was still quite dark and so the photos I took were very disappointing. The furore lasted for about 15 minutes with the muntjacs barking furiously. They were not running away and were incredibly aggressive towards the fox. I noticed later that there was a youngster with them in the woods, which accounts for the aggression.



Finally, the fox - a beautiful specimen with a magnificent tail, ran off out of view reappearing seconds later with a squirrel in its mouth!

I guess that it gave up the idea of venison for breakfast and settled for squirrel instead. It then raced off across the field for a peaceful meal.

Nature in the raw. It is great to witness the behaviour of these beautiful creatures.

But the day did not end there - this afternoon I spotted another dead squirrel on the front lawn and a buzzard and red kite squabbling over it. Once again, no camera to hand! However, later I managed to snap the red kite sitting in a tree at the corner of the lawn.




So, 2012 continues with some very unpredictable weather. Hardly any of the leaves have fallen from the trees yet and they are very late in changing colour.

After having no harvest of apples or pears, there were also very few blackberries or acorns. Luckily, there are plenty of Holly and Pyracantha berries which is good news for the birds.

The recent rain is bringing out the fungi and there is a good crop of Shaggy Parasols and Shaggy Inkcaps (although I don't feel confident enough to eat any of them).

I wonder what kind of winter awaits us?