Ice on our neighbour's rain barrel...
Apologies for the longer break — coming home my desk was full and it’s taken me time to get on top of things. Meanwhile, not just I am back but hopefully, so is the warmer season. It was quite springlike when we returned but for the last few days, winter has made a — hopefully final — effort.
...but white frost thawing on her roof
What kind of tit did *you* expect?
Last Sunday, before the snow, it was looking very springlike in the garden. And, to my great joy, our famous nesting box got new tenants. The husband managed to take some photos through the kitchen window:
In kingfisher mode
In "Easter egg on sticks" mode
We lost no time and put up the spikey things we bought after this episode. I’ve once again forgotten what they called in English (or German) but apparently the French term is “stop minou”. That’s the plan, indeed!
I think this may be my last post for a couple of weeks — still a lot of work on my desk before we’re off on vacation — but I’ll be back in mid-March (with lots of fish photos, I hope). Be good!
A jay (Garrulus glandarius) has taken to hanging out in my famous birch tree and so I’ve been spreading nuts on the unfinished terrace to attract him. It’s taken a few days but it seem that he has finally figured out that this buffet is intended for him.
Apologies for the blurry cellphone picture, he is still quite skittish.
Isla is quite excited about this addition to the Cat TV schedule
At first, he only went for the walnuts and hazelnuts but now the peanuts have gained in favour. I had expected he would go for them first as they are the easiest to crack but I suppose he simply didn’t know what they were. This reminded me of the one and only time my mother got a hold of unshelled peanuts when I was a child, and how excited I was about them. In my memory I am about four, sitting in our old kitchen with all these strange things spread out before me, pleased about the fact that I could crack the shells with my bare hands. Amazing to think that I can now buy them whenever I want, even just to feed a bird. On the other hand, would I have retained that memory had peanuts been an everyday occurrence?
Walking the cat 