Frosty mornings

We've had a hard frost for the last two nights, down to about -5°C.  I love it when it's frosty and sunny in the morning and everything looks like it's sugar coated.

Ice crystals on a broccoli leaf

A clematis flower head

Ivy leaves

The nettle patch was very sparkly

The nyger feeder may have to defrost a bit before the Goldfinches use it

The big birds looked a bit fed up with the cold and were hanging out all morning in the Silver Birch tree in the garden. I counted at least 17 birds in one tree, mostly woodpigeons, but there were a few rooks and jackdaws as well.

Jackdaws

A rook

A puffed up woodpigeon

The little birds didn't seem to mind the cold and were flitting about as normal, enjoying the extra food I'd put out for them. One of the sparrow mums appears to be nesting! She also looked like she might jump in the bird bath, then thought better of it. Too cold even for her!

One of the sparrows in their favourite bush outside our bedroom window



One of the female sparrows appears to be nesting

Will she or won't she jump in ... not this time!

I put lots of extra treats out on the bird table, so put the trail camera out to see if anything unusual paid us a visit. Mrs Blackbird didn't seem overly worried it was there and seemed to want to know what it was staring at! It mostly caught pictures of the magpies and woodpigeons.

The squirrel couldn't resist the tasty treats and helped himself, watched by a chaffinch.