Friday 18th January - Snow !

It was forecast and they got it right - we had a dusting Monday morning and then a dusting last night but by 6am this morning  it was in full flow and has been snowing all day -there is now a consistent depth of between 5 and 6 inches everywhere. The trains had already put emergency procedures in place yesterday so there was no way I was attempting the commute - the girls went up to school but quickly returned after about 30 minutes when it was clear conditions were going to continue and get worse - so they had a day sledging and building stuff in the snow.

I had been home early on Tuesday when in some late afternoon sunshine I  was surprised to see a Marsh Tit on the bird table, the first one I'd seen for at least a year and very pleasing because they are a bird with a decreasing population and were more common a few miles further East when I was at Greyhound and I'd only seen one briefly a few times since moving here.

The birds took a while to arrive in the snowy conditions this morning but over the course of the day from the kitchen window I managed to see 1 Marsh Tit, 1 Bullfinch, 1 male Brambling, 20 Chaffinches, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Nuthatch, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Redwing, 10 Blackbird, 2 Dunnock, 2 Robin, Woodpigeon, Pheasant, Stock Dove, Starling, Jackdaw, Magpie, Jay.

all the pictures below were at home this week, the first few were in the sunny late afternoon on Tuesday - the rest today in increasing snow.

Marsh Tit on bird table (thru grubby kitchen window)

The domestic flock in Winter sunshine on Tuesday

Looking back to house from end field.

Wren outside kitchen

From back door early Friday

From front door early Friday

Brambling (from grubby kitchen window)

The poultry pen in the snow

between the 2 barns

House from the end field

A snowy barn

A female Blackbird - with a very light variation of plumage - it made me look twice !

Another bit of snow