We've said goodbye to early morning tiny frosted fingers on stems and branches. Not that we had many this year at all, with it being so mild. The month whizzed by and for me (after my wonderful adventure) has been filled with restocking my shop with prints and cards. Re-ordering bits and pieces, doing my tax return, having a sort out, tidying up, with quite a few trips to the charity shop to drop unwanted items off and hibernating somewhat.
The garden is green and snowdrops are blooming. Even the bluebell leaves are quite advanced and some primroses are in flower. This is good news for any bees that are awake of course. I did see a bee on a snowdrop the other day...
On Sunday I participated in the 'Big Garden Bird Watch' You've probably heard of it. Each year it is run by the RSPB over a weekend and people sit for an hour and record the bird sightings then add them to the database. It's a great help to the RSPB for finding out how our bird numbers are doing and of course is a pleasurable hour spent just sitting quietly watching these beautiful creatures.
My recordings were as follows:
x 2 Robin x 3 Blackbird x 2 Collared Dove x 2 Dunnock x 3 Blue tit x 2 Coal tit x2 Jackdaw x 2 Wood pigeon x 3 Great tit x 1 Long tailed tit x 2 Chaffinch x 1 Magpie x 1 Songthrush.
This picture below was taken on another day. It seems I have a new friend that has figured out that Robin was getting special treatment on the tree stump. I decided to give the mistletoe berries to Mr or Mrs Song thrush in the hope that Mistletoe berry + Song thrush = bird poo + berry seed = Mistletoe
Not sure it will work, but all the berries were eaten...
Robin still comes to my hand occasionally but prefers the tree stump most often these days.
Like last year, he has begun to stay further away as he has paired up ready for Spring. Here they are together.
Mr Blackbird is never far away.
The kitchen is scented with hyacinth and is a great reminder that Spring is on the way. I'm always so glad that I took the time to plant these back in Autumn, when they finally come into flower.
Some of the new postcards, now in my Etsy shop...
I also managed to finally finish this painting that I began before Christmas, after my visit to Wistmans wood. I have named it 'Journey through Wistmans'
It will be available as a print, as soon as I get a good scan of it, the next time I go into town. 
I hope your January was a good one?
Karen
x
Posts
