Merry Christmas

It may not be a white Christmas, but it certainly has been a mixed bag weatherwise. Temperatures from below freezing one day to double figures the next, gales and driven rain to dry spells.....mother nature is unpredictable!

Finally the wild flowers are not flowering, and having gathered various seed, as well as sowing seed we are looking forward to the coming year.

This Blackbird is a visitor to our shores, from the continent. Although a male bird, it has a darker beak than our resident blackbirds. From the look of the feathers, a few brown juvenile ones are present, telling us it was hatched out this year.

Blackbirds are under a lot of pressure at the moment, so keep them fed over the winter. In my opinion it has the best song of all our native, resident birds. Look out for their cousins, the Fieldfare and Redwing, possibly feeding on Rowan and other berries.

https://www.bto.org/about-bto/press-releases/much-loved-songbird-threatened-mosquito-borne-virus