Wednesday 4th March

A prolonged period of low temperatures to end winter plus a couple of domestic inconveniences have set a limit on my recent activities.

Unfortunately the latter have included a couple of nature-related issues. A small garden tree with interesting weepy twigs gave up the ghost during the winter storms and keeled over, so there was nothing for it but to chop it up and take it to the tip.

Slightly more distressing was the sight of fluffy flakes descending from the area of my roof. It proved that some starlings had broken through the cladding and were making merry with my loft insulation.  Fortunately there had been no attempt at nesting so it was simply a case of getting the hole blocked so they couldn't get in. I've no idea what they were doing - just roosting or stealing themselves some material for a nest elsewhere but the resulting mess isn't simple to tidy up.

One walking and a couple of cycle runs on better days having produced nothing of note, the garden has pretty much been the total focus of my attention.

The female blackcap appeared once again on the feeders after the mahonia had wilted, but not again, making it unclear whether the mahonia was the main attraction as is my instinct.

At the end of last week there was a sign of Spring when a pair of bullfinches turned up to steal some of the shoots sprouting by the back fence. The male didn't hang around but his partner was more patient and hung around for a while, breakfasting on the buds.

Bullfinch

I think that is the first time a bullfinch has been spotted from my kitchen window,  Then today there was another first when, at distance I caught sight of a treecreeper shinning up the bald oak tree by the burn.

I think there may also have been a visit from a bird of prey.  Yesterday one of the feeders was found on the grass where it had fallen from the pear tree.  I assumed misbehaviour by jackdaws or squirrels as per normal but on closer inspection I noticed that there were a few small feathers lying around.  So it looks like a tit might have been taken from the feeder by presumably a sparrowhawk, or quite possibly a merlin as they definitely occur here.

As they say, I will never know.