Cold again,snow showers, sunny spells.
A sad note to start today. A dead badger on the road out of the village. Sadly this will continue to happen until either the traffic slows down or these beautiful creatures keep off the roads. As they have to find food even when the ground is frozen as at present they have to travel to live and it is inevitable they will be crossing our ever busier roads.
A creature, rarely seen, that seems to be doing well is the mole. Almost every grass verge, football pitch and field is covered with the remains of their diggings. I did catch one in the garden some years ago by getting my spade under it when I noticed the molehill moving. I caught it in a bucket and removed it to some nearby woodland. Maybe I'm partially responsible for the fact that they are doing well.
The highlight of the day was sighting a buzzard on it's kill ( a rabbit ) in a nearby field. It was being hassled by three crows and a little later had given it up to his adversaries. Two other buzzards seen today, one perched on a street light and the second in a small tree.
The fallen apples were feeding about 40 blackbirds today, accompanying them were six fieldfares, two robins and three chaffinches.
I had a good telling off this morning. I disturbed a song thrush on the road, as I returned from dog walking. It was trying to extract a snail from it's shell at the side of the road and it was not going to give way to me or our German Shepherd bitch. I know that times are hard but I don't fancy snails.
Several jays flew up from the oak wood floor, they were probably searching for acorns that they had tucked away a few months ago. Plenty of longtailed, blue and great tits about as well.
There is a good population of house sparrows living down the road. The residents feed them well and they seem to be thriving. A lot of hay is put out in the adjacent fields for the horse residents, I don't doubt that this helps, too.
There were plenty of the local birds about today, perhaps because it was a little warmer. Robins, hedge sparrows, wrens, greenfinches, goldfinches were all about today plus a single nuthatch and a mistle thrush. As daylight drew to an end every large tree seemed to have a smattering of woodpigeons going to roost. They certainly seem to thrive whatever the weather.