It was a beautiful sunny day when I reversed into my parking spot in the wood; cloudless bt cold at only 7C and with a brisk SW wind. The snowdrops are now coming into their prime and carpet both sides of the drive in a swathe. Round the corner in front of the stable outbuildings the aconites are also pushing through the carpet of dry, crisp leaves.
I walked through the wood to the hide contemplating how dry it was. I only needed ordinary walking trainers. In previous years the track has been a quagmire but for a few years now it has been worryingly dry. Climate change in action, perhaps. The sunny weather is lovely but rainfall is worryingly below normal, even with a wet early January. As I sat in the hide the crisp, dry leaves were being blown around playfully by the brisk wind, on occasion deceiving me into thinking it was a bird.
It was fairly active at the feeders with plenty of tits, robins, blackbirds and a good number of chaffinches. I was pleased to have a visit from a tree creeper. They do occasionally put in an appearance and if I am quick enough I have successfully photographed them; however, they never use the feeders, concentrating instead in probing the bark of whichever tree they are climbing. They spiral up a tree and when they reach a desired height they fly to the base of the next and repeat the process. The treecreeper is one of our smallest and lightes birds weighing only 10g - not much more than a £1 coin. Although a resident bird, they do struggle in exceptionall cold winters so the current milder weather helps them.
Fat seems to be the main draw at the moment, especially for long tailed tits and woodpecker so I think its time to make up some of my patent peanut and fat mixture which tends to be a real attraction.
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