winter in the garden

I had to de-ice the inside of my car this week the first time since I owned a mark two Cortina, it has been that cold. It is quite a prolonged spell to say the least with many people scratching their heads as to when was the last time it was this cold and eeh! What shall we do and what is the matter with the climate? Well for many who do not panic it is winter and every so often we should expect a bit of the white stuff and temperatures will occasionally drop below zero.

For me personally it does have some plus points as I do not mind the cold, the scenery is great and photo opportunities are abundant but is does hinder a lot of my work and such as management of our nature reserves and our ability to move around the place is hindered. Our conservation grazing is suffering and we can’t get on to many sites because of the depth of snow and ice but it is winter and that’s what happens.

However, there are pluses too, like last winter small mammals are having a field day (pardon the pun) under the ice and once the winter breaks their should be an abundance of small packets of protein to feed our hungry predators, well the ones that survive the winter any way. This is nature though and this is what happens within nature, the strong survive the weak unfortunately die.

Some animals are quick to take advantage of opportunities whilst others are slower and as such decline. Last winter we had a weasel take up residence in the compost heaps it was warm and there were plenty of mice about. This year I followed tracks in the snow in the parkland opposite my house, one of these little pint sized predators went from tree to tree looking for a meal until the tracks stopped an at the base of an ash tree. Just inside a little root cove there he was, frozen stiff, poor beast. He never got his meal the night before and his boiler went out, the balance act being so fine in one so small he perished, sad, but that is nature.

Back in my garden the chickens are more like penguins, the poor beasts perched on 8inches of compacted snow but on the feeders we have a couple of unusual guests, they are ones that I am keen to encourage as they remind me of my youth and ‘mis-spent’ days in the fields and hedges. They are a couple of tree sparrows who have joined the normal throng of house spuggies, chaffinches etc. I am ‘well happy’ as they say, as these are not common birds having declined like many farmland birds over recent decades. So to have them in the garden is excellent and along with the other birds that entertain my feeders they make excellent photographic subjects.

Being slightly mad at times, I wanted some good shots of these new visitors so placing myself in the greenhouse, removing a pain of glass I was in a prime spot for snapping away and so it was, despite the temperature in the greenhouse being a balmy -6. I fulfilled my Sunday morning challenge with some nice snaps of the tree sparrows, such handsome little chaps that they are. However, with hypothermia well and truly set in I had to get the circulation going so how better than walking the dogs.

Off we went for a largely uneventful mooch around my local footpaths, with only some comical images of my terriers struggling in the deep snow to entertain me, but then just as the sun was dipping and with temperatures plummeting again my ever alert dogs picked up movement on the lane ahead. A weasel!!! Scuttling over the road, the limp bundle of a field vole hanging from his jaws testament to his tenacity. Excellent, at least he will be safe for another night his belly full and boiler stoked. That put a nice shine on the end of the day so i went to the pub for a late afternoon pint to watch the match