Saturday 18 January 2020

Finally, winter seems to have arrived. It has been colder today with flurries of snow. This seems to have livened things up in the valley.

I spent a few hours photographing in the afternoon and was treated to a fly-by of a flock of around 150 bramblings. We've hardly seen any bramblings this winter until now.

There was a goldcrest lurking in our hedge most of the afternoon and we had a brief visit from a crested tit.

Other photos today are of a pair of greenfinches, a brambling, a coal tit (there were a lot of them about) and a jay with a tumour who we first saw in April last year. The tumour is a lot bigger now and has completely closed his left eye. He had a healthy appetite though.

And finally, a photo of a bank vole who is living in our shed.

Brambling flock, Christophstal January 2020

Brambling flock, Christophstal January 2020

Goldcrest, Christophstal January 2020

Goldcrest, Christophstal January 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal January 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal January 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal January 2020

Crested tit, Christophstal January 2020

Greenfinches, Christophstal January 2020

Greenfinches, Christophstal January 2020

Brambling, Christophstal January 2020

Brambling, Christophstal January 2020

Coal tit, Christophstal January 2020

Coal tit, Christophstal January 2020

Jay with tumour, Christophstal January 2020

Jay with tumour, Christophstal January 2020

Bank vole, Christophstal January 2020

Bank vole, Christophstal January 2020

Tuesday 14 January 2020
Ice spike, Christophstal January 2020

Ice spike, Christophstal January 2020

Ice spike, Christophstal January 2020

Ice spike, Christophstal January 2020

Ice spike, Christophstal January 2020

Ice spike, Christophstal January 2020

It's been colder overnight this week and we awoke this morning to an impressive ice spike in our bird bath. See February and March 2017 for other examples and more information.

Sunday 12 January 2020

It seems to have been a long time since the last diary entry.

It's been really mild and there's nothing really going on in the garden at all. I've taken some photos today to break the trend, but these are only really routine species.

Blue tit, January 2020

Blue tit, January 2020

Coal tit, January 2020

Coal tit, January 2020