Blog 8 - 24 Feb

In a blue sky above, three buzzards have been calling, circling, spiralling upwards on welcome thermals. In sheltered places below, an opening hellebore brings another smile of Spring. Further up the garden hill, animals are behaving in more of an autumnal fashion....

grabbing apples! Fruit stored from the autumn is getting past its ‘sell by date’ and we are amplifying the usual wildlife allocation with extra rations. Corvids are so clever they probably remember this procedure from last year, and not surprisingly, a vigilant magpie is on the scene immediately.


The previous few days this one and mate and another pair have been bickering over nest site rites.

The squirrel, our Advanced Level acrobat, also views everything that’s going on and grabs and eats





...blatantly in the open in front of the camera!

 



The pheasant arriving on consecutive days is more of a surprise visitor. We tend to hear him call across the valley more than we see him. In previous years a male pheasant has commandeered the ground beneath a feeder in a flower bed, even compacting the soil to the extent the feeder had to be moved to save the plants. Is this the same one? Could be – they have a lifespan of 3 years in the wild, much more in captivity. The special bit of this photo is the owner of the tail visible in the crook of the moss-covered apple tree behind... the wily squirrel has scarpered with his apple and eating privately in safety!

With some sunnier days coming on, I’m not thinking of apple feasting... I’m thinking of meadow flowers buzzing with insects in June -


a Marbled White on Knapweed...and

Paul Jupp’s imminent Meadow Event...





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