A White world

Today's photo of the day.

It's Snowing!!!

Well it came over night, the garden was covered in white, the street had turned white and still it was falling from the sky. It was so deep in the garden it had completely covered the washing up bowls I use for the birds water.
Lynsey's cat Pepper played in the snow like a kitten, not wanting to go in when she called him, usually he doesn't like snow or cold, however today he just wanted to play. Biscuit her other cat looked out of the door Lynsey had put on his harness to take him out, but a look was enough, he wasn't going out in that. He shot back inside where it was warm and dry.
We had a small problem with ice in the water pipes, which caused a slight leak under the kitchen sink, but it was soon put right. The temperature is at the moment -3 but feels like -9 apparently, according to the weather app on my pad. I think I will hibernate until it is all over!

Until tomorrow...

A fire in the sky

Today's photo of the day

Sunset over Wrenthorpe.

As the sun set the sky turned a peachy colour, then it looked like a fire had been lit above the clouds. We knew that bad weather was on the way.

Until tomorrow...

My favourite things

Today's photo's of the day.

My first sighting of a fox.

These photo's are not good photo's, but I have put them on to show you anyway. They were taken in 2011. It was the first time I had seen a fox out in the wild, so I was very pleased to get the photo at all. It was taken at the side of the canal at Stanley Ferry. At that time we lived on boats in the marina, we spent many an hour walking just to see what we could find to photograph, this has to be one of my favourite things.

Until tomorrow...

In a bit of a rush

Today's photo of the day.

A Blue Tit in a rush.

This blue tit seemed in a rush to get somewhere. He suddenly took off from the bush as though his life depended on it. Maybe he had seen that black cat that is stalking the gardens just lately!

Until tomorrow...

Not a day for singing

Today's photo of the day.

Walking in the rain.

You just could not miss the bright green legs walking up the road. The rain was pouring down and it just brought two things into my mind, Walking in the rain, and Singing in the rain, I don't think he felt much like singing!

Until tomorrow...

As regular as clockwork

Today's photo of the day.

Long Tailed Tits

These lovely little birds love the suet balls. They fly into the garden in flocks, eat their fill and leave. You can almost set your watch by them because they always appear at the same time each day, give or take a minute.

Until tomorrow...

Searching for nesting sites

Today's photo of the day

A Blue Tit.

The blue tit's in the garden are looking for places to build their nests. They still keep looking for the house that used to be on the tree at the bottom of the garden, in the school yard. That disappeared when the new school opened.

Until tomorrow...

More babies on the way.

Today's photo of the day.

A pregnant looking squirrel.

I guess we are going to have some more baby squirrels on the way.

Until tomorrow...

It's amazing what you find on a day out.

Today's photo of the day.

A wall painting in Knaresborough.

Tony found something to try his new lens on.

Until tomorrow.

A cold day.

Today's photo of the day.

An atmospheric shot.

This was taken on a ride out to Wetherby, the weather was cold but at least it was dry.

Until tomorrow...

Strange name...

Today's photo of the day

Black-headed Gull.

Yes the name surprised me as well, it doesn't have a black head I thought so why is it called a Black-headed Gull? The answer I don't know! The closest it gets to being black-headed is when it is in it's breeding plumage, then it has a chocolate brown hood, but even that does not extend to the back of it's head.

Until tomorrow...

More returning faces...

Another couple returned to the garden after a long absence. While Mr Chaffinch chose to stay hidden in the bush, Mrs Chaffinch came out to bathe in what little bit of sun there was shining in the garden.

Todays photo's of the day.

Mr & Mrs Chaffinch

Peeping out from the bush trying not to be seen.

Bathing in the remaining sunlight of the day.

The Chaffinches did not stay for long but I am   sure they will be back, hopefully a few more will join them.

Untill tomorrow...

Food fads in the garden.

The male Blackbirds are fighting over territory in the garden, that's when they are not chasing the females round, or eating.

Today's photo of the day.

Mr Blackbirds new love.

He much prefers this to peanut butter! It is a crunchy biscotti spread, we discovered it in "Lidl" at Christmas and it soon became a firm favourite among the birds and squirrels. Even the woodpeckers love it everything is chased away so they can get to it.

Mrs Blackbird did not look so impressed with her meal worms, but surely they must have been more healthy .

Mrs Blackbird showing her disappointment with the meal worms.

Maybe I should buy her some live ones.

Until tomorrow...

One of my favourite birds.

Today's photo of the day

A garden favourite, The Wren.

I always like to see a Wren in the garden, they are one of my favourite birds. They can always be heard long before I can spot them. The loud pipping whistle sound has me searching the garden for them straight away, however it can take me several minutes to find them. Then when I do find them they move so quickly they have gone before I manage to take a picture. Today though I was lucky and I managed to take a few before the Wren disappeared over the fence into next doors garden. This in my opinion was the best.

Until tomorrow...

Robin's being a bully...

Todays photo of the day

A very haughty looking Robin.

 Robin must have decided that this feeding tray was his! If any other bird tried to land and feed from it, robin swooped and knocked them off it. I don't know why he was being so bullish about it, or why he had decided not to share today. I hope he is in a better mood tomorrow. Maybe he just doesn't like valentines day!

Until tomorrow...

A new family member.

At last, she has finally arrived, she should have made an appearance on January 31st. However she was worth the wait. At 3:10am this morning weighing in at 8lbs 6ozs,

Today's photo's of the day

Willow Joy Soo Turner.

Photo's by Christopher.

My newest granddaughter, made her first appearance into the world. After making everyone wait for her, she didn't even give her mum chance to get to the labour ward! Congratulations to Joanne & Christopher the proud parents, to Keira the happy big sister who now has a little sister and to Logan who is now a big brother and no longer the baby of the family. Of course Lewis and Reece the two elder brothers will take it in their stride like everything else and be the big brothers to Willow just as they are to Keira and Logan.

Until tomorrow...

Bookends...

Tony has again supplied today's photo. He called me into the kitchen to ask me if I wanted to use the photo he had taken. After he showed me it on the screen I decided I would, thank you very much.

Today's photo of the day

Squirrel Bookends.

We often get a squirrel on the sunflower ball at the far side of the shed, however usually it is birds that use the feeder at this end, unless the ball is empty. Obviously because we are a nut box down the squirrels have decided they will use the other feeder before the ball is empty.

I guess I am going to either have to buy another nut box or ask Tony very nicely to make me one.

Until tomorrow...

First come, first served...

It is a case of first come first served at the feeders at the moment. The Great Spotted Woodpecker male was lucky today he arrived before the squirrel. This meant he got first pick at the nuts. He was very skittish though and didn't stay long.

Today's photo of the day

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

He had only just left when the small male squirrel arrived so maybe the woodpecker had sensed the squirrel watching him.

Until tomorrow...

A Quiet Place To Eat...

The squirrels are visiting two or three times a day now. They are so busy eating that I am not able to keep up with demand, especially with being a nut box down.

One of the smallest squirrels has found a place to eat away from the others where he has his own supply of nuts. The only other garden visitor that doesn't seem very happy about it is the woodpecker!

Today's photo of the day

A Quiet Place To Eat.

Until tomorrow...

Return of the Coal Tit...

There has been a few more birds returning to the garden over the last few days, one of them is featuring in ,

Today's photo of the day.

A Coal Tit.

This small bird is one of my favourites and can be seen buzzing around the garden usually in pairs throughout the spring months. They will be busy soon nest site choosing and building.

Until tomorrow...

It is freezing in the garden...

It was so cold in the garden, it was freezing!

I broke the ice on all the water bowls in the garden so the birds and squirrels could help themselves to a drink. However by the time I had put out the food the water was already freezing again!

Today's photo of the day

Mr Blackbird having a drink.

He had to be very quick as the water was freezing again, even though I had only broken the ice about 5 minutes before!

I have a thermometer in the shed, it was reading 0 degrees, when I first went down to the garden after staying down for an hour, it read -2 degrees. I went back upstairs to get warmed up and to try and stop the aching in my bones.

Until tomorrow...

More vandalism and a newbie...

We have had more vandalism in the garden! this time though it is down to a human hand! One of Tony's favourite garden ornaments has been broken, smashed to pieces.

The Broken Man

This has been done by one of the children from the school over the wall at the bottom of the garden.

They can often be seen on the wall, standing on the ivy, they throw things at me when I am in the garden, they throw things at the staff. They even climb up onto the school roof and walk along it. They pull the moss off and throw it at anybody that is close by. The staff just stand and watch them, whatever they do. The children have climbed into our garden more than once, this is the first time they have broken anything. I hope it will be the last, Tony is really not happy and neither am I.

Now on a happier note!

We have another new squirrel in the garden,

Today's photo of the day

A newbie in the garden.

Meet the newest squirrel and very pleased he looks to be here! He jumped from the fence onto the table and almost fell off. However as you can see he clung on and managed to pull himself on and found plenty of food to fill himself up.

Finding cob nuts on the fence shelf.

This was an added bonus, he sat and ate one then ran off with the other one, he obviously knew about hiding them for later.

Until tomorrow...

The highest number of birds are...

Today's photo of the day

A Goldfinch.

This is one of the many goldfinches visiting our garden at the moment. There are more of these than any other birds coming just now, closely followed by sparrows.

Until tomorrow...

Harmony in the garden ...

Tony has proved today's photo of the day for me! The photo was taken from the kitchen window, through the glass, so it is a little bit blurry. However for the distance and allowing for the window and distance, I think it is a pretty good photo. We often get two or three squirrels in the garden, four not quite as often, so we wanted to show you that it does happen and sometimes we even get five.

Today's photo of the day.

Four squirrels in the garden.

The squirrels all seem to be getting along together, which is unusual when there are four of them. Lets see how long it lasts!

Until tomorrow...

Searching in the leaves...

Mrs Blackbird has been spending time in the garden, she has been searching through all the fallen leaves. I am guessing she is looking for some tasty bugs to eat.

Today's photo of the day

Mrs Blackbird searching through the fallen leaves.

It will not be long before she is looking for nesting material in the leaves.

Until tomorrow...

Vandals in the garden

Well today I discovered we have a vandal in the garden! I have an idea who it is, I could be wrong, but I don't think it really takes much guessing!

Today's photo of the day

An act of vandalism

This is what greeted me when I went to fill the nut box! It is just not necessary, it is just vandalism, there is no other word for it. 

However the culprit has cut their supply of monkey nuts by half, now they only have one nut box! There will be pandemonium in the garden when there are two or more squirrels in the garden wanting to use the nut box.

Until tomorrow...

It's on it's way...

Spring must be on it's way! There are green shoots popping up all over Margaret's garden! It feels too cold for them to want to break through the soil and show themselves but they are.

Today's photo of the day

Snowdrops

This cluster of snowdrops are in the garden at the side of the path that runs through Margaret's garden, that I have to walk along to get to the shed. 

There are also primulas, crocus shoots, daffodil shoots and several other buds appearing in her garden. There are some snowdrops coming through in our garden but they have not got any flowers on yet, we do not have any thing else budding as Tony usually strims or runs over with the lawn mower  anything that flowers in our garden!

Until tomorrow...

It's too cold to venture outdoors!

I am going to start again with a photo of the day. The 1st of February seemed a good day to begin again.

I have started believe it or not with a squirrel,

Today's photo of the day.

Looking through the shed window for me.

The squirrel had a look through the shed window to see if he could see me, when he spotted me this was his next move!

The flashing squirrel.

It just looked like he was flashing at me. I know he was really only having a scratch, but the timing was so spot on it just made me laugh.

I am back to my usual self as fit as I will ever be, Tony is still suffering a bit, his cough is causing him problems on a night. He is not eating properly and is off his scotch so that proves he is not well.

I hope you all joined in the 'Big Garden Bird Watch' at the weekend! I did, and I noticed a big drop in starlings from last year, the sparrows were down in numbers too, however the goldfinches were up and the collar doves were up slightly as well!

I hope the weather is going to improve so I can get out and about with a camera, the weather the last few days has been shocking. Yesterday it rained, sleeted, snowed, then the sun came out for about ten minutes before it rained again. But it is just so cold again. Today I have not left the house, it is windy outside, the ice didn't thaw off the car until mid morning and I could see no point in going out into the cold if I had no reason to, so today was a pyjama day. Tomorrow I will go into the garden and make sure the birds and squirrels have plenty of food and clean water, who knows I might even get a decent photo to show you.

Until tomorrow...