Winter is well and truly here. We had a wonderful walk first thing through a winter wonderland. No wind, it didn’t feel cold though it is snowing hard.
The dogs love this weather but they don’t like me brushing the snow out of their coats. It was cold enough not to stick too badly today.
Loch Morlich is frozen over.
The place is just perfect.
I got back and had a bowl of porridge then set about erecting the bird feeder. I have a big steel spike and a lump hammer but was making little impression until I boiled a kettle of water and that sorted the job. The new bird seed is a big hit, it has all sorts of goodies in it and it does have millet though not very much.
I have all the usual suspects with Coal Tits in large numbers, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinch and Mallard sweeping up. The Jackdaw is back and I hope it isn’t the little devil that ripped all the rubber from my wiper blade last year. I’ll have to try and find a perch for them as I don’t like to see the feeders in the shot. That will be easier said than done as all the sticks are buried under a foot or more of snow. This bird food seems excellent value at £15.45p a sack though it’s difficult to tell as the birds would probably eat anything in this weather.
I didn’t see anything on our walk but within ten minutes of getting the feeders sorted this little beauty flew in.
A rare bird, a Crested Tit. I know it isn’t the best shot in the world but it is snowing hard and damn near dark. I was talking to Kath in the shop and she said she’d seen a Crossbill……Yet another challenge. We are going to look for it on Thursday as she has seen it in the same place twice. She hasn’t seen a Pine Marten but a Crossbill would be a nice bird to see. I can see me turning into one of those twitchers…….God forbid. Does twitching have a detrimental effect on ones eyesight? The ones I’ve met have been, without exception, a right shower of bankers.
There are two Crested Tits now, they have decided fat balls are the thing.
Have a good day.
