What a treat!

For the last couple of weeks we've been privileged to have flocks of seven or eight of these little birds in our tiny garden several times a day, feeding on fat balls and coconut feeders - aren't they gorgeous? Wish I'd taken the photo but sadly, they move so fast my camera wouldn't catch them and they are SO nervous that I'd never get near enough. They're one of our tiniest birds, though - if not the tiniest - not sure if Goldcrests are a tad smaller and Coal Tits aren't too far behind. They do look bigger because of their long tails but if you look closely, you can see they're nothing but a little ball of fluff on the end of a stick, lol :) Unfortunately, they have a really high mortality rate in Winter and especially when it's as cold as it has been. They have so little surface area that they lose heat fast, even though they sleep huddled together to keep themselves warm. 

This one may give you an idea of just how tiny they are…

Still here…

 

As you can see, the snow’s almost gone from most of the garden now, though it’s still thick in the road and on the pavements at the front – no sun there, whereas the back gets sun all day – when it’s out!

It’s been VERY wet today – miserable and cold even though the temperature’s up a few degrees – certainly doesn’t feel like it cos it’s damp.

Must post some family pics – will do that over the weekend :)

Winter sky – is it blossom or snow?

Finally managed to get my little girlie.  Not sure if you can see it here but her right foot is totally bent backwards under her leg.  I think she’s the one Lynne and I rescued from a Sparrowhawk a couple of years ago.  The following day  when I opened the door, she flew down and sort of bounced at my feet by the door because she was scared and desperate for food but when we tried to pick her up, she managed to fly off.  She’s pretty trusting, though :)

My poor birdies…

 

This was early this morning, before more snow but you can see their footprints were already pretty deep.

I kept clearing a space for their sultanas and mealworms but the snow was falling so thick and fast today that they were being covered with snow not long after I’d put them out!

At least there’s a bit of shelter under the heavily snow laden trees – I’ve bashed it off here, so the birds can sit on the branches more easily.

This is my favourite local ‘Nature Reserve’ – Mere Sands Wood – and these are the branches set up for the Kingfishers, so that they can be seen more clearly from the hide we were in.  As you can see, there were NO kingfishers that day and sadly, I’m wondering if we’ll see them again for a long time after this deep freeze.  As you can see, despite the sunshine, the whole of the Mere is absolutely frozen solid!