A Winter Walk Around Wrest

We took a visit to Wrest Park recently - an English Heritage site and one of our regular local haunts throughout the year. It always looks different each time we visit - even if it's the same season. The weather and the sky always help to determine the landscape. 

This day was one of those cold and crisp winter days. It had been glorious when we started off from home, then we drove into mist and fog. When we arrived at Wrest, the fog was still lingering, but the sun was breaking through and came out whilst we were wandering around. 

We explored the beautiful grounds and walked around the moat. The water was icy in places, the plants were resting, but somehow the bare branches of the trees and the remains of the reeds looked spectacular. The birds were out in force as usual. We heard woodpeckers and blackbirds, spotted robins, wrens and thrushes and as always the swans, ducks and geese were enjoying themselves out on the waters. 

It was a bracing walk and afterwards we sat out by the cafe still wrapped up in our coats and scarves and gloves and warmed ourselves up with hot pulled pork sandwiches and lattes. I love to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air even in winter, but even Ted needed to be kept cosy in his coat. 

RSPB Birdwatch 2017

A date that is now firmly on the January calendar is the RSPB Great British Birdwatch. This year's birdwatch took place last weekend and we took to the conservatory with the binoculars to watch the birds for a while and complete our survey. The RSPB survey is the biggest British survey of birds and involves watching for an hour and tallying which birds visit various places for the hour's duration. It provides vital data and statistics on our birds in the UK. Anyone can take part, you just need to visit the RSPB website and register. 

We have many types of birds that visit the garden throughout the year so it is always interesting to see which ones happen to visit the garden during the period we undertake the birdwatch survey. We have a small apple tree towards the back of the garden where we hang out various feeders containing suet, sunflower seeds and hearts and various other types  of bird feed. We also have a bird table where we scatter seed and titbits for the birds. Both feeding areas provide some shelter and hiding places for the birds to feel confident to visit. We always ensure there's plenty of water for the birds to drink too - we have two nicely sheltered bird baths and the pond and its waterfall is always a great attraction for the birds. 

This year we were lucky enough to have a magnificent crop of apples on the apple tree back in autumn and although we picked plenty to make sauces and pies, there were still plenty left on the tree and plenty of windfall apples underneath it. With the cold conditions and heavy frosts of the last few months, the birds have been coming to the garden regularly just to feed on the apples. They have enjoyed them so much, we have been putting put more of the apples out that we had picked and stored in autumn to encourage them to keep on visiting our garden. Each day we have had to put out more. It's been interesting to see we've had fieldfares and redwings come in from the parkland and fields behind us. We've also had a moorhen take up permanent residence since Christmas and sometimes a partner arrives now and again to share his feast. 

During this year's birdwatch we counted magpies, wrens, blackbirds, fieldfares, redwings, robins, sparrows, greenfinches, chaffinches, coal tits, blue tits, great tits, wood pidgeons, thrushes and one resident moorhen - so not bad going! We often have other regular birds as well as these, including goldfinches, long tail tits, starlings and pied wagtails. They must have been feasting elsewhere during the hour long survey. 

Next up on the garden birdwatching calendar is to watch out for the blue tits and great tits. This is the time we usually see them exploring the bird boxes we have fixed in various places around the garden. It doesn't feel too long before we can watch them preparing to nest and watch them swooping in and out in with twigs and moss ready to breed and produce eggs. It's a wonderful process that usually goes on until May when the chicks hatch and fly the nest. It's a lovely and fascinating thing to see and look forward to.