Bitter Wind Blowing.
07th February 2021
Here we are again, still on ‘Lockdown’ but it looks like there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel with the vaccine roll-out programme proceeding at a pace. All credit to a superb effort by the NHS!!
There was a bitter wind blowing this morning as we walked up onto a local hill side so it’s a good job the path we were walking is enclosed by tall hedges giving us some cover because these very cold conditions are set to persist for the rest of this week. We noticed a distant flock of what looked like thrushes trying to feed in a horse pasture and as we approached we were pleased to see about fifty Redwings. They must have been pushed west by the cold easterly wind and also a small flock of ten Blackbirds similarly brought in by the weather. The hedges that line this path at one time must have been almost totally made up of Elder, which is very unusual around here. The branches of these old Elder trees, many of which are on their last legs, grow into some wonderful shapes and the fallen ones make great perches for photography. Elder is a very weak wood and therefore there are many fallen branches broken off by the wind. There is a fungi which we call Jelly Ear which has a particular liking for Elder and these hedges as a result are festooned with this fungi at the moment.
This fungus has many other names, Wood Ear, Jew’s Ear, and Judas’s Ear, the latter two named so because supposedly Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an elder tree. Over time these hedges have become interspersed, mainly with Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel and Birch. When Elder was in profusion along this path the flowers in spring must have been quite a spectacle.
In anticipation of this cold weather I cleaned out the little reflection pond in our garden and increased the amount of seed we put out in the hope of photographing some birds. Last week I thinned out the canopy of the small wood that backs onto our garden using a telescopic chain saw attachment which was hard work but well worth it because the amount of light now pervading the feeding station is vastly increased. I have also bought a small parabolic gas heater for my bird photography hide because it gets really cold in there in winter. This little heater really gives out a huge amount of heat for its size and it should make it far more comfortable in there.
I’ll leave it for another day to get the birds used to the new feeders and then see what comes in - you never know.
There was a bitter wind blowing this morning as we walked up onto a local hill side so it’s a good job the path we were walking is enclosed by tall hedges giving us some cover because these very cold conditions are set to persist for the rest of this week. We noticed a distant flock of what looked like thrushes trying to feed in a horse pasture and as we approached we were pleased to see about fifty Redwings. They must have been pushed west by the cold easterly wind and also a small flock of ten Blackbirds similarly brought in by the weather. The hedges that line this path at one time must have been almost totally made up of Elder, which is very unusual around here. The branches of these old Elder trees, many of which are on their last legs, grow into some wonderful shapes and the fallen ones make great perches for photography. Elder is a very weak wood and therefore there are many fallen branches broken off by the wind. There is a fungi which we call Jelly Ear which has a particular liking for Elder and these hedges as a result are festooned with this fungi at the moment.
This fungus has many other names, Wood Ear, Jew’s Ear, and Judas’s Ear, the latter two named so because supposedly Judas Iscariot hanged himself from an elder tree. Over time these hedges have become interspersed, mainly with Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel and Birch. When Elder was in profusion along this path the flowers in spring must have been quite a spectacle.
In anticipation of this cold weather I cleaned out the little reflection pond in our garden and increased the amount of seed we put out in the hope of photographing some birds. Last week I thinned out the canopy of the small wood that backs onto our garden using a telescopic chain saw attachment which was hard work but well worth it because the amount of light now pervading the feeding station is vastly increased. I have also bought a small parabolic gas heater for my bird photography hide because it gets really cold in there in winter. This little heater really gives out a huge amount of heat for its size and it should make it far more comfortable in there.
I’ll leave it for another day to get the birds used to the new feeders and then see what comes in - you never know.