With a feeling in the air now that spring really is just around the corner, the daffodils in the garden are shooting upwards and the snowdrops are fully open at last.  With plenty of bird song bursting from the hedges, only one thing has been missing.  Usually by February we have song thrushes singing, and sometime a local mistle thrush too.  So far this year there has been nothing from either of these two species.  Their beautiful songs are the real herald of spring as far as I am concerned and they often nest in the hedge just across the lane from my house.  But today a song thrush appeared in the garden.  Not singing (maybe a female) but at least poking around in the borders which are all left uncut until later in the year, to harbour the maximum mount of natural food for anything that needs it.  Looking back through my notes, I haven’t seen a song thrush in the garden since October!  Hope she’s here to stay for a while.

We have had snow here for a few days now and although the temperatures are not that far below freezing, the conditions are wintry enough to bring the fieldfares back in huge numbers.  Well over 100 have been feeding under our two large apple trees every day, together with thirty or so blackbirds, making the garden at the back of the house look a little bit like a Hitchcock film.  Fieldfares are very argumentative birds too, so there are continual scuffles, scraps and outright fights as one bird tries to take possession of a pile of apples, while frightening off his rival.  Amongst all this aggravation  the chaffinches weave their inoffensive way, keeping out of the line of fire and picking at the exposed apple pips as well as the left over apple skins.  In all its a fascinating scene to observe, from the warmth of the house, preferably with a cup of coffee in hand!

As the weather changes yet again back to colder conditions – and we have snow on the hill tops round about us in Shropshire – the wildlife using the garden also changes.  The fieldfares are back, feasting on the fallen apples beneath our trees which makes me think they must have excellent memories for a good food source! 

Larger birds seem to dominate here at the moment, especially pheasants, of which we have a regular crowd of about six or seven.  One in particular, a female, is now a permanent feature as she is unable to fly (a possible window strike we fear) but easily finds enough food and shelter around the garden.  So she seems well enough and is also very feisty!  She regularly fights off the local grey squirrels who compete for the spilt seed on the ground under the feeders.  In spite of the reputation these mammals have for ingenuity, she wins every time!

Mild weather at this time of year always seems to freak everyone out, yet it is the two last very cold winters that have been unusual.  Looking back at my wildlife and weather notes in my diary, I can see that the temperatures this week in January 2008 were mild, we still had Hebe in flower, we saw wood pigeons mating and our snowdrops were in flower on the 21st.  Still a week to go before the latter happens perhaps, but something to really look forward too.  With regard to wood pigeons though, I think we have enough here at the moment, with a flock of around 200 in the field next door from time to time, but somehow I don’t think that will stop them making a few more!

With relatively benign weather over Christmas and the New Year period, the current gales have come as rather a shock.  The weather is still mild though and the change in day length has already had an effect, especially on the birds in the garden and round about.  Most noticeable is the fact that we have a dunnock singing every day – in spite of the windy weather, staking his territory in preparation for nesting in the hedge somewhere.  It’s a joy to hear proper ‘spring’ birdsong now, rather than the winter song of the robin which has such a melancholy air.  The dunnock sounds positive and ready for spring and I have to say, I am too!  Such a lot to look forward to in the next few months.

So proper winter weather is with us here in Shropshire – snow on the hills round about, snow in the garden and snow in our lane making it impossible to get our car out.  Luckily for our local wildlife, it is not too deep and already disappearing as the snow turns to rain.  The effect on some of our birds has been very noticeable though with marsh tits and coal tits caching large amounts of seeds, taking beak-fulls off into our hedges and trees.  A coal tit has even been seen hiding sunflower hearts in tufts of grass between the paving stones outside out back door!  I have no problem with this except that I suspect few are ever found and we do get strange plants germinating in the spring!  I wish I could let them know there will always be a good supply of food for them here!

Twice now in a couple of months I have seen a barn owl in our area – once flying low through the garden over the big meadow and then across the long borders, head down as he scanned for any movement that could say ‘vole’!  With such an amazing summer here for small mammals its not surprising that we have seen and heard more of the top predators around us.  Last weekend though a barn owl was spotted sitting on the side of the road on the top of a narrow post in the hedge, a short distance from our house.  A classic pose – staring at us as we drove slowly past.  He then flew to a nearby fence, turned and stared at us over his shoulder before spreading his wings and taking off over the fields.  Next weekend’s task – build a barn owl nest box!