Five into February

We didn't hasten into February by any means. Last month meandered along at a steady but tedious pace and sometimes felt as if it was going nowhere but all of a sudden here we are entering a new month.  Time to turn the calendar page over.

Today we walked at the Wolseley Centre, headquarters of the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and I found both Snowdrops and Catkins which also appear in the calendar picture above.

Lot's of Snowdrops at Wolseley. 

Pushing their way through the damp soil and decaying leaves.

Such a beautiful sight.

 

Earlier in the week we had walked at Trentham. 

In damp, misty weather.

Afterwards we popped into the garden centre to seek out some colour.

On Thursday we had a surprise visit from the brother and sister-in-law of our next door neighbour.  Mainly to keep us up to date with the arrangements for her funeral and also about the sale of her house.  They brought with them a lovely gift to say thank you for all the help we had given our neighbour over the years we had lived next door.

A lovely card, gift card and Orchid.  How kind and thoughtful.

It's a lovely thing but I'm anxious about how to look after it.  They always seem so exotic and delicate.  If anyone reading keeps Orchids, or knows about them I'd love a few tips on how to keep it alive😊

All for now.
 

RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch

Oh dear, not many to count this year.  The weather was against it from the start.  The last few hours of storm Eowyn on Friday, followed by glorious sunshine on Saturday and the start of storm Herminia on Sunday. (When did we start to name storms?) The birds stayed away from the feeders in the bright sunshine just the same as they had in the wet and windy weather.  

Friday was busy with supermarket shopping, collecting medication from the hospital pharmacy and then dashing home in time to receive a pre-organised appointment call from the hospital we'd just visited.  Saturday was sunny so we ventured out for a walk in the morning. Glad of the warmth of the sun on our backs. In the afternoon we sat down with a cup of tea to start the bird count but none appeared so we gave up. We finally started a count around midday on Sunday.  The feeders were topped up with sunflower hearts and suet fat balls.

Unfortunately the woodpecker didn't make an appearance. 

Counted were 5 blackbirds, 2 Dunnocks, 8 Goldfinch, 4 Siskins and 1 Robin. 

We were below the national average in the number of birds we counted.  It will be interesting to see how others fared and also to see the final statistics in April.

Waterbirds and Daffodils

A jug full of bright yellow daffodils are just the thing for cheering up a cold, grey and dreary day.

We saw quite a few interesting water birds on yesterday's walk around the lake at Rocester.  It was a cold morning and for some reason I just couldn't seem to keep warm so we didn't linger for too long. Fortunately most of the birds were gathered near the small car park where people arrive with food, for themselves and the birds.

I had to get the bird book out to identify a few of them.

Above and below Ruddy Shellduck.  There were three of them.

We saw two of the same ducks on Trentham lake at the beginning of the week.  They were an unusual enough visitor for Trentham to write a post about them on their facebook page.

Snow Goose

Runner Duck

Hooded Merganser

Shoveler Duck

Red Crested Pochard

Bufflehead? Not a native species if so. 

Reflections

 The light was so beautiful around the lake at Trentham yesterday.

It's been a week for reflections as we entered the second week of January.  We started the New Year with a funeral and now there will be another.  Our neighbour who had suffered from Multiple Sclerosis for many years had been bed bound for the last year and in and out of hospital.  She lost her partner of many years to Motor Neurone Disease in February 2020, just before the first lock down.  On Christmas Eve she was taken into hospital with Flu and another infection I think they said Sepsis.  Anyway, she lived through all that until last Thursday evening.  Her brother rang us on Friday morning with the news.  We had been looking after her cat and dog whilst she was in hospital.  Both animals have now found homes, not with us as we didn't want to take on any more animals at our age.  The cat is just a few houses down the road so we will see her around. The little dog has gone to a young couple who already have a pomeranian, I'm sure he will be happy in his new home.

We will have to wait and see what new neighbours will move in when the house is sold.  We have been so lucky to have wonderful neighbours on both sides over the last twenty eight years, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it may continue.

I've also been delving into the 1921 census now it is free on Ancestry.  I've been looking for siblings of my grandparents and found quite a few of them.  I later followed up on a link and found two very sad stories in the Hodgetts family.  My paternal great grandmother was a Hodgetts. I found her brother's  death due to a pit roof collapsing and the marriage of his daughter followed a year later by her death, probably in childbirth and the deaths of the twin boys within days of each other. 

Oh dear this post has got a bit maudlin.  

Here is a photo of a female pheasant taken as we walked around the lake yesterday.  There are three of them and they can usually be spotted in the trees between the lakeside walk and the monkey park.

I have registered to participate in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch again this year.  Goodness knows how many years we have been doing this but it always something to look forward to.  We've had some different bird visitors to the garden during the cold and icy weather including Siskins and Long-Tailed Tits.  There have also been Starlings about again.

All for now.  Take care. 

A Stop on the Way Home

In my last post I hoped that snow or fog wouldn't affect our journey and thankfully we had neither.  Lots of heavy frost though.

 The day of the funeral was cold and dry and the sun came out to shine through the windows of the chapel at the crematorium. Snow had been forecast for later the next day so we decided to go straight home after breakfast.

The golden stag was outside the East Midlands Designer Outlet which was on the opposite side of the road to our hotel.  We had a wander around the shops just as it was getting dark before going back to the hotel for an evening meal.

On Saturday morning we stopped in Cromford for a short walk around the village rather than down by the Mill and canal.  It was so cold.

Above and below Cromford Mill Pond.

We were headed for a favourite book shop. I've written posts about it a few times over the years.  Hard to take in that I'll have been blogging for twenty years in March of this year.  Where has all that time gone?

Inside it felt warm and we were greeted with a friendly welcome.

I treated myself to a book I'd wanted for ages, I found a new copy but the member of staff who greeted us heard our conversation and came to say that she had a second hand copy of the same book which was much reduced and that the previous owner seemed hardly to have looked at it.  She thought it would find a good home with me. How kind and thoughtful.

It is a Persephone publication Long Live Great Bardfield: the Autobiography of Tirzah Garwood.  Tirzah Garwood was a wood engraver and artist and a member of the Great Bardfield group of artists.  She was also the wife of the noted painter, wood engraver and book illustrator Eric Ravilious who is one of my favourite artists.  The other favourites are Gwen John and Dame Laura Knight.

 

The bad weather closed in just a few hours after we got home and we woke up to a white dusting of snow all over the garden.  

We are now at home for a few days and without an oven as, for some reason, it stopped working on New Year's Day.  We have a separate hob and a microwave so that will keep us going until the electrician comes on Wednesday evening. He seems confident that it can be mended.

Belated best wishes to you all for the New Year.