I drove into Attleford Lane (that runs from Somerset to Gatwick, near Cutmill) one night when it had been raining and was confronted with two birds with curved beaks that looked very much like Curlews, in the middle of the road in early December. It is very unusual to see these birds at this time of the year but once I had got home and looked them up it seems that there are several varieties and one of these migrates to the English coast in the winter, driven, I expect by a need for food. They obviously had found a good source of food inland as they should have moved on some time ago. Maybe this is a reflection of warmer winters.

Another unusual thing: we have a Japonica against part of our front wall facing south. Nothing special, it has been there since before I was born and it grows like a weed, needing to be clipped back otherwise it takes over but it puts up a cheerful display of blossom in early Spring. It was to my surprise that it has burst into flower in the first week of February! Now that is early by any standards. Luckily it is completely hardy and has not succumbed to the heavy frosts we have had in the last week.  More signs of changing weather patterns. Other flowers out in the first week in February were snowdrops, primulas, and crocus.

Insects and nest boxes

I was detailed to clean out the Birds nesting boxes as St. Valentines day is approaching "that is the birds wedding day you know!" I was told. What I think of "old wives tails" is not readily printable in the article so the said boxes were removed from the wall, taken apart, cleaned out, disinfected and returned to their positions, one being repositioned as last year some of you may recall it got taken over by wood wasps who got a bit peevish with us at one point in the late spring. The old wasp nest we removed from the box was in layers of three chambers all formed of hexagonal cells fitted side by side; you could see where some of the wood from inside the box had been scraped off to assist with the building.

Di had bought an insect box - no sorry - I have just read the label, it is a "Garden Insect Habitat Tower"; anyway, it has been mounted where the wasps were and we shall see what happens. A sachet of what looked like sand but turned into a sticky brown goo on the application of water had to be smeared over various parts of the box to make it seem a nice place for an insect to lodge. There are also lurid details of how many aphids are eaten by Ladybirds (5000 it said) so you can have an aphid free garden.

We shall see!

Birds

We did the RSPB bird survey on the special bird weekend in February. It's funny how many birds you see the day after. We have lots of Blue Tits and Great Tits; due to the mild weather they are getting very vocal and frisky. We haven't had many Nuthatches or Greater Spotted woodpeckers in the garden this year - they must be getting plenty of food elsewhere as we can hear the drumming of the woodpeckers as they declare their territories. A popular scientific magazine had an article on this, the brain of the woodpecker is especially cushioned to ensure they do not get a headache; the only bird to have this inbuilt facility as far as we know.