Coldest February in a decade

Well This February has been the coldest in 10yrs!, we have had quite a bit of snow too. the ponds have been frozen over for most of the month and I think the chickens are fed up with the snow too. The bird feeders have been emptying pretty fast, and have had daily visits from the Long tail tits amongst the regulars. Yesterday being the 18th Feb I took a look around the garden as all the snow had gone :) and i noticed the snowdrops are just starting to flower, which is quite later than the last few years, hopefully get some pictures up soon.

A SAD DAY

Today we lost "Dolly" the Hen, remember the one that had all her tail feathers pecked out, well she managed to grow more but was never a really healthy hen even though i tried everything i could. 2 days ago i noticed she was very fluffed up and wasnt sure if it was the very cold weather we were having, anyway yesterday she was just standing on the coup floor all on her owwn fluffed up and didnt even flinch when i picked her up, she just kept shutting her eyes, so i put her in the dog crate i have with some hay and food and brought her in home, hoping the warm would help her, but sadley it didnt and today she died :(

Cold start to the New year!

Well January has started off being very cold infact its been recorded that it was actually -12 in some parts off britain, which even froze the sea sea edge!! I think our lowest was -9, mind you that hasnt stopped the Magpies starting their nest in next door but ones garden! The Climbing hydranger has started budding too along with the elderberry. I was amazed one day this week at how many Longtail tits arrived together in my garden, you can see a pic of them below.

The Early Winter Garden

Well the garden doesnt look much now the winter is here. The birds have started to flock back though and getting lots on the feeders. The chickens dont seem to be out much but it is very cold at the moment and we have had a few very small snow flurries. The Grass doesnt look to healthy either, think the chickens have took the goodness out of t :(

Coal Tits for the first time

OOOOOHHHH today I had 2 Coal tits on my bird feeder, I was in the garden at the time without my camera :( At first I thought they were Great tits but noticed the real black markings on their head and the backs being more of a grey colour... It was only after searching on google images that i found out they were Coal tits, im thrilled! Just wish id of got a photo of them... hopefully they will be back when i can get my camera out.

We Had a snow flurry!

Well On Sunday 23rd November 2008 we had a snow flurry! I quickly filled all the bird feeders up.
It was a good job that I had cleared the garden up the day before, I also was going to clean out the middle pond but after scooping a few leaves out I found lots of baby newts amongst them so decided it was best to leave the pond as it was, just hope the baby newts survive I thought they hibernated amongst rocks and logs in the winter?
Also Today I saw a gull on my neibours roof, they dont usually settle near our gardens..have seen them flying over but never still.

Sparrow hawk Back!!

Look who is back!!... hope it doesnt bother my chickens !!

The weather this month has been lovely, think summer came a bit late! whats the betting it changes this week though as the kids are on school holiday for a week.

Also this week I have seen regular visits of the mistle thrush