One afternoon about two weeks ago Pa and I were tottering around the garden, the ground was soggy from the winter's rain but the signs of Spring were everywhere. Crocus, Snowdrops and Winter Aconite had attracted a few early bees and male Sparrows were flitting about with small white feathers in their beaks, each one a gift for its mate.
By the following morning, a bitter wind had flattened the Crocus flowers and this was soon followed by snow, snow, and more snow. Amorous sparrows had become beggars and the brave bumble bees had beat a hasty retreat.
Such a thick covering of snow made feeding the birds a tricky business, the hanging feeders and bird tables were doing a great job but the ground feeders were having a tough time finding anything edible among the soft deep snow. Pa and Richard put down trays, each weighted with a log in the most sheltered spots and these were filled with nuts seeds, bread crumbs, raisins and suet and some of last years apples were speared on twigs. The hardest job was keeping the water bowls free from ice, that and staying on our feet, poor Richard spent a good deal of time sliding about on his bum!
During this hard time, our garden was visited by Redwings and Fieldfares, driven by hunger to seek sanctuary among our usual visitors, and the Fieldfares certainly gave the Blackbirds and Thrushes a rough trot. There are few birds more feisty than a hungry Fieldfare and there were constant squabbles.
Every evening large flocks of Starlings spread like ribbons across the sky, heading for shelter after a day's slim pickings in the surrounding fields, we wondered where they were heading?
Almost as suddenly as it had arrived the snow melted away, leaving the lawns even soggier than before and exposing flattened crocus flowers and frostbitten Violas, but the daffodils had continued to grow under the freezing blanket and the small buds on Flowering Currant and Philadelphus seemed unharmed.
Before the day ended blackbirds were tugging at clumps of dead grass for nesting material and the Male Sparrows were once again to be seen courting their chosen mate each with a fluffy white feather, it was as if nothing had happened.
The late spell of bad weather may have slowed down the onset of Spring but now everything is making up for lost time. Soon the hedges will be home to nesting birds, and bees will busy themselves among the Cowparsley at the roadside.
Two weeks from now the transformation will be every bit as spectacular as was the snow which is now, happily, a thing of the past.
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