When The Beast met Emma

  Frozen times down at the pond...Brrr!

After the combination visit of 'The Beast from the East'* and 'Storm Emma'** there is a thaw setting in - for which I am glad. I have disliked the bitter cold (-7C and a freezing wind-chill taking the 'felt' temperature down to -11 here), but I have also enjoyed the element of 'shut-down' - suspension of normal time & activity patterns for several days. I have spent much of them either with my camera, peering out of the window or walking in the garden, or getting much thinking and working done here on the computer - which is in my office, the warmest room in my house for most of the day. So I have been able to tell myself that I have been 'sensible' rather than self-indulgent;  I have been guilt free at not doing other,  'proper work', as circumstances have dictated events!

It's also felt very cosy and comforting to know that we (fortunate, privileged we...) had heating and lighting, and the basics of bread, milk and cheese in store. The cupboards were full of pasta, rice and root vegetables and there were more than enough tins of tomatoes & chick peas and whole racks of herbs to be able to conjure up curries and bakes, stir fries and risottos for a week or two if need be. I had also made three batches of soups in the previous week, so there was a stash of 20 of those in the freezer for lazy lunches - very convenient!.

Root Veg soup making in process

I've also been getting great pleasure from the many animal visitors that have chosen to come into the garden during the cold spell. Lots of them always live on the margins, I know, but their hunger has drawn a lot more of them close to the house and less nervous of me when I go out to feed them.

Happy to see *two* Moorhens back in the garden

I could endlessly watch the comings and goings of all the birds. As always, the 'regulars' - Pheasants, several species of Tit, Blackbird, Thrush, Robin & Wood Pigeon - but also the more reticent Moorhens, and, during this freezing 'snap', both a solitary Redwing and another solo Fieldfare - both members of the Thrush family, but quite distinctly different.

Speckle fronted, grey headed Fieldfare alongside a Blackbird

Solo Fieldfare, the last at the table when almost dark

They are both birds which I normally only see as a passing flock in the Autumn - Redwings in particular seem to have Autumn Cottage Holly Tree marked down on their passage as a place well worth of a 'stop and strip'. But I note, when looking in the 'Bird Bible' - our old copy of Readers Digest Birds of Britain - that  during a hard winter, singletons or small groups can indeed be seen feeding with other thrushes in gardens.

The other visitor which popped in yesterday was the creature with which I have my biggest love/hate relationship - the Muntjac deer which plagues the garden, nibbling down the shoots of many emerging herbaceous flowers. Over this winter it has stripped a Fatsia japonica to a stump and chomped a Viburnum davidii (one with ribbed evergreen leaves, to be attractive in the winter) - also down to nibbled nubs. BAD Muntjac!

Our little Muntjac visitor, scavenging birdseed

The damning evidence! Chewed leaves on left...elegant whole ones on the right

But in freezing temperatures, when it is emboldened to creep up to the seed trays to nibble whatever it can find, how can I begrudge its efforts to merely stay alive? I captured just a couple of photographs of her yesterday (I think it’s a 'her' - difficult to tell as no horns at this time of the year and both genders have horns when they grow…), so as far as I am concerned, it has more than 'paid its dues' for food by posing so nicely!

The other visitor with which I have a fraught relationship - more for its cheek than anything else - is the resident Grey Squirrel, which carries out daily raids on the peanut bird feeders with impunity and costs me a pretty penny. I haven't even seen the squirrel in this cold weather, but I know it has visited - I found the evidence on the ground, next to the seed trays! Not unpleasant to touch and full of seedy remains that it had been guzzling. (Pretty sure it was that squirrel - though if anyone else has another ID - please say).

Squirrel (?) droppings - very dry, odourless and yes, I DID wash my hands afterwards!

Now that temperatures are rising we can all get out and about again. Supplies can be replenished, worries about broken water pipes, overflowing overflows and fears of floods in dark and hidden places are fading into the background. I'll be happy to see the springtime recommence its emergence - but I'm also grateful for what the harsh conditions (tolerable for a few days) gifted us, not least of all that reminder that we sometimes need that it is Mother Nature which is truly in control, how ever big we get for our boots in thinking it is ourselves.

I'll leave you with just a few minutes peek through the window into the wintery world of the last few days at Autumn Cottage. I'm happily looking forward to the sun and flowers of springtime returning again very soon - they ARE on their way and will be all the more precious now - watch this space!!

* 'The Beast from the East'- a climatic surge originating in a freak heating of the arctic, causing a deluge of freezing air onto Siberia - and from there to here!

** Storm Emma - an extra 'bendy' gulf stream flow, causing low pressure and a cold front to surge up from Portugal in the south.

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Comments

[Weaversjournal]

Hi Roz, lovely post. And I’m glad you have been treating yourself “sensibly”! Cx

[Lilly's mom]

Such lovely wildlife you have at your doorstep! Two little doves visited my home this afternoon. I hope your weather warms up a bit. Wishing you a wonderful week, Pat

[avis]

Beautiful! Good to see both moorhens back and all the others enjoying the feast you provide.

[Mad Englishwoman]

Another lovely post. Love the picture of the muntjac. Also, I was pleased in the previous post to see your picture of the redwing as I've never identified one before but now I will be better equipped. I do agree with you about how good it is to be reminded that Mother Nature is in control. I find that restful (but Himself doesn't!).

[Stephanie Lish]

I so enjoyed the post. Many in more southerly climes often like to criticize our colder winters here in New York (these people assume we are miserable as the thermometer drops and snow falls). I always just smile and thank God for the "shut-down" as you put it. Some years we are blessed with more of these days. It's wonderful to have daily life grind to a halt and leave you with nothing else to do but enjoy the comforts of home.

I can tell you for a fact that what you have found is not the droppings from any grey squirrel I've ever encountered. Squirrel droppings are very small and ovoid in shape. I don't even think it would be physically possible for a grey squirrel to pass something the size of what you are holding.