WINTER’S FINAL FLING

So winter is unfurling a severe cold spell, just as people started to think about spring.

With snowdrops, crocus and daffodils all blooming in the garden, and many other places, Siberian winds are bringing the most serious winter test to wildlife.

The local birds appear to have already started to pair up – blue tits, blackbirds, robins and long tailed tits have all been seen in pairs in the garden over the weekend.

They, along with dunnocks, great tits and house sparrows, were making the most of the free food on offer, before appearing to greet the new batch of bird seed and peanuts with a variety of chattering in the bushes and trees, while I filled up the containers.

I suspect the feeders will need to be topped up a couple of times in the coming days, depending on just how cold it gets and for how long.

Hopefully this big freeze will not affect the buds known seen on most small trees, including the fruit tree in the garden. Only time will tell

We’ll probably find out in a few weeks, when the trees start to blossom fully.

The weather is probably making some winter visitors, from colder climes, wish they’d stayed put!

Will the garden get snow? I doubt it very much, but the cold will certainly see some casualties among the wildlife, sadly.

Hopefully the food being put out, the shelter (through nest boxes and bushes) and water (unfrozen) will help most, if not all, wildlife survive until spring.