CAN SOMEONE CALL SPRING, SHE'S LATE!

The snow and winter has unleashed its worst weather so far this season and it’s meant to be spring!

This time last year it was 17/18c and lovely spring sunshine, but this year there’s up to a foot of snow and a bitterly cold easterly wind.

The birds look in shock when I see them in the garden and the forecasts suggest that even Easter won’t escape winter’s unwelcome extension.

Luckily in our garden we have shelter from the east winds and the birds have made the most of the area of lawn and border that hasn’t seen a single flake of snow. On the other side is drifting snow!

It’s been so cold that a lack of traditional spring food supplies has driven a great spotted woodpecker onto the fat ball feeder on my garden and literally 10ft from the house. I couldn’t find my camera quickly enough and before long it had taken flight, although I suspect it won’t be long before I see it again.

The regular supplies of food I give the birds are very welcome for them at the moment and I’ve seen plenty this week. Blackbird, chaffinch, house sparrow, blue tit, robin, great tit, long tailed tit, tree sparrow, goldfinch, woodpigeon, magpie, wren, dunnock and even a pheasant.

The camera nest box still isn’t working and I’m going to leave it for this year as a pair of great tits and blue tits have been inspecting it and even clashing over the rights to nest there.

I suspect that this battle will continue, but it’ll be the ‘who is roosting first’ challenge for the next week or so.

I think the pair of robins are using a nest site that they’ve used before, among the tree roots and vegetation that grows from the brook near our garden. They won’t use the nest box I’ve got up again this year because the honeysuckle plant hasn’t covered it up enough.

Finally I’ve not seen one bird inspect the sparrow nest box and while this weather persists I suspect they’ll only do so at dusk if a current roost site it disturbed.

Hopefully the weather will start to act like spring from Easter onwards and the wildlife can start acting accordingly – until then keep feeding them and always making sure a water supply is available.