Thursday and Friday continued our current cold snap although as forecast things did start to turn a little milder on Friday afternoon.
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| Temperature & Rainfall Saturday 17 January 2015 to Friday 23 January 2015 |
Around the country various places have recorded some very low temperatures during the cold snap. For us that hasn't been the case. It’s been cold by day with temperatures hovering around 0°C through the day but there hasn't been much of a drop during the night. Wednesday was our coldest day with an average daily temperature 1.1°C. On Wednesday our highest temperature was 1.5°C and lowest 0.7°C. Our lowest temperature of the cold spell was on Friday morning when the temperature fell to -1.6°C at 08:05.
Our coldest temperature of winter was -3.3°C on 31 December 2014 but with a high temperature of 9.1°C the same day the daily average temperature turned out to be 3.7°C.
One of our female blackbirds has become very trusting when I replenish the bird table each morning. Most mornings she will come and perch in our magnolia tree and watch from a safe distance while the suet treats are added to the bird table. As soon as I move away she makes her move to be the first to the bird table. On Friday morning she had a new trick.
I usually try to keep a watch for when I’m spreading the food. She doesn't take kindly to any sudden movements but providing actions are carried out in a sort of slow motion she’s happy to stay her ground. On Friday morning she arrived in the magnolia tree but then decided she might as well have some seed and fat out of the coconut whilst I took my time adding stuff to the bird table. She was no more than a couple of feet away. I only had our little Lumix DMC FS45 camera tucked in my pocket. I carefully took out the camera, thinking that as soon as I pointed this at her she would be away. She’s got far more about her than that and she calmly put her head down and carried on eating.
We've a couple of female blackbirds who look very similar so I can’t be absolutely certain that it’s the same bird each day. They’d better turn up for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch over the weekend or they might find their suet pellets rationed.
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We have two magnolia trees in our front yard...a large White Magnolia and a small Tulip Magnolia. The White stays green all winter & birds love it. I'll have to give the Coconut a try for a feeder! Good photo.
ReplyDeleteOur magnolia tree is leafless now but it makes it easy to spot the birds using the branches to make their way to the bird feeders.
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