Wildlife in December

OK, I promised myself I would do this, I only hope I manage to keep it up in the future. This sort of thing isn't my strong point!

Nuthatch - the first visitor to our feeders, what a treat.
Blue tits
Coal tits
Great tits
Chaffinches
Greenfinches
Goldfinches
Blackbirds
Brambling (female)
Bullfinch (pair) infrequent, but very welcome visitors
Great spotted woodpecker (pair) only seen them once so far
Dunnock
Robins
Wrens (pair)
French Partridge
Collared dove (pair) - occasional and not our favourites
Starlings - as above.

Other wildlife:
Brown rat! One dead so far, trap still set!
Red squirrels in the village, although we haven't seen any in the garden to date.

White Christmas

When it started to snow on Monday, who would have guessed what it would look like on Friday, Christmas day.



Much of our family are with us for Christmas. As they all arrived safely (although not without incident) we can sit back and enjoy the picturesque scenery for a while

Feeding the Birds - in the snow

One of the reasons for starting this blog is to keep a record of visiting birds in the garden. By coincidence, today it has started to snow quite heavily, so the birds will be really glad of our help now.



I plan to run a list of birds visiting the garden each month so that in time, we can look back and compare.

Meeting more neighbours.

We have had a really warm welcome to the village. Our immediate neighbours have all been particularly friendly.



I think we are going to be very happy here!

Dog walks on the doorstep

Walking in the local forest is something we shall do often. I wonder how long it will be before this view of Blencathra is hidden by the trees?



It's a bit different from the views we used to see in Lincolnshire!

Watching the sunset #1

Once again, I think this will be the first of many. The 'departure lounge' is an ideal viewing place for the setting winter sun.

Watching the Sunrise #1

I am sure this will be the first of many photos of what we see when we sit in bed with a cup of tea in the morning.............