Brrrrr

First thing yesterday morning saw the temperature dropping to -3.6C



During the day it almost reached +3C with a slightly hazy sky and lots of Sunlight.



At least that meant no more snow but where many footpaths had been clear the day before, snow showers the previous evening gave them a covering again. That soon turned to ice as the snow was compressed by pedestrians. I'm getting good value from the ice spikes this year.

On our morning walkies we had a look down a track between fields



Standing in one field entrance I took a panoramic view looking towards the Lincolnshire Wolds



The 287 feet high tower and steeple of St. James,Louth parish church, was easily visible poking up. (a closer crop of the above photo) I've not seen it so clearly on a photo taken from 6Km (3.7 miles) away.



On the return journey the Winter Sun was casting long shadows



Back home and a quick look at the raised pond complete with alligator and rabbit.



Yes. Frozen over as expected. Looking forward to Monday when temperatures are forecast to rise again. Last night they dipped down to -7.1C. All photos taken with a Canon G5X Mkii.

Just When I Though it was All Over

After tea madam sprawls out until she hears the magic words "Time to get ready". We went through to the kitchen and were greeted with the sight of .....



We have hardly had more that a few flakes all day until then. In fact it was the heaviest shower seen here this week. Once it was over we again walked to the end of the lane. I took a few photos with the Canon GX5 using the built in panorama facility. This was about the best:



Then we made a detour on to the cricket field



Anyone for cricket? The snow showers continued on and off all evening.

Snow Time

Our first real snow shower this year.
February is usually the month we get our share.
Rain and sleet overnight now frozen to make the lane a skating rink.
Not a problem when I wear my old shoes fitted with snow/ice spikes.

White Thursday

We've had Black Friday.
 Here, near the Lincolnshire coast, today is turning out to be White Thursday:

Friday at the Flicks - Blackbird, Snow

This morning a female Blackbird sat close to me as I struggled to undo the frozen bolt on the back gate so we could go walkies. I sometimes get the feeling she is reminding me it is time to top up the seed feeders. The video clip was taken a few days ago as a female Blackbird came very close to pick up the seed and mini suet sticks I had dropped:



The snow from Wednesday night slowly melted on Thursday and had nearly all gone by late afternoon when a short sharp snow shower covered everything again. As soon as the cloud had passed through there was a sparkling pale blue sky for a short while:



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you and take care in bad weather.

A Touch of the White Stuff

Occasional flurries of snow at tea time have gradually lengthened to more persistent snowfall.
This taken just before bedtime as the temperature dipped towards freezing:



Good job I salted the paths earlier but I think I will need my shoe spikes for our morning walkies.

Front Garden by Night and by Day + External Robin Video Link

We may well be at the end of the present batch of snow showers but with this morning's temperature dipping down to -8C it will be a while before it disappears completely.

This is my front garden as photographed a couple of nights ago:



And the view this morning:



In this part of the country we expect to see views like that once every few years in February, not the beginning of December.

There is a photographer who goes under the name GoldfinchGarden on YouTube who has some really great bird videos. This morning he sent me a link to his latest - a slow motion close up video clip of two Robins feeding from a hand, though not at the same time as there was a bit of an argument as to who would get the seed. It's not over violent and well worth viewing. The video can be found HERE.

Strange November, White December

November was a real mixture for temperatures here. The average for the month would be 7C to 10C. The month started about 10 degrees above average and ended about 10 degrees below average. These were the temperatures for November as measured by my weather centre.



December has started with plenty of snow - shades of 1947? - not quite but it is very unusual to have so much snow here at this time of year. My back garden has about 6 inches (15 cm) of snow and my grocery delivery has been cancelled as the road conditions are atrocious. Many think of Lincolnshire as a flat county. Well it is near the coast and in the south of the county but not far from me there are several steep hills and main roads surrounded by open arable land. Even the snow on my roof is blowing about so I can imagine what some of the drifts will be like. On top of that it has started snowing again.

This morning the Great Tit was a bit later again in leaving the nestbox. Here a video of it superimposed on still views of my front and back gardens.



I cleared the snow from the feeders, put out a fresh saucer of water and scattered some seed on top of the snow. It didn't take long for some of the regulars to find it.

Wood pigeon sinking up to its belly in the snow:




A few of the Starlings, too cold to argue:



The only good thing about having snow covered roads through the village - for once traffic is moving well within the speed limit.

Blooming Snow

For me one of the strangest sights in my back garden this week has been the dwarf standard rose in full bloom covered with a layer of snow. I don't remember it ever blooming this late in the year in the past.



Fortunately, so far, we haven't had a lot of snow but I have no doubt there will be more on the way over the next week.

It would appear many of the visiting Starlings have now arrived to join the residents. Certainly the numbers visiting my feeders has suddenly increased. As always they spend more time squabbling than they do eating and the smaller birds have to find a gap when it is safe to fly in for a quick bite to eat.







 There are three male Chaffinches which usually visit at the same time. It is fascinating watching their antics as they try not to invade each others space. Occasionally there will be a short chase but most of the time they manage to avoid contact with each other.

Friday at the Flicks (Merry Christmas, Snowy Weather)

A Christmastime greeting from Bobby (and yours truly) in the way of a slide show of him with a short video clip at the end.



The soundtrack this time is a short section from DJXMAS, a Protracker .mod file written by 'Death Jester' in 1992 and released on the acme bbs in Huston. Ah, memories of the time when the Amiga ruled when it came to music production on a home computer. Psycle was used to convert the mod file to an mp3 which can be heard in full (DJX.mp3 about 9.5 minutes) on my eSnips account. I think it can also be downloaded from there. Anyone wanting the original mod file can find it on the ModMecca site.


Yesterday brought the first snow of the Winter to this part of Lincolnshire. The day was a mixture of sunny periods with occasional blustery snow showers - but - birds still have to eat and a bit of snow and wind wasn't going to put any of the regulars off their food.



Another missed photo shoot opportunity. While I was concentrating on filming the activity at the Birdy Bistro I saw the Heron take off from my garden. A quick glance at the ripples in the pond showed what that was after!

We hope the weather is kind so you can enjoy observing the wildlife around you. Only a very small dusting of snow in this part of Lincolnshire so far this morning though more is forecast.