Thursday 26 January 2017

Nature.

We now have an extra hour of daylight morning and evening, and what a difference it has made.   Have the birds begun to sing where you are?  Robins are singing away and one or two blackbirds have also begun to tune up.   It is bitterly cold here, so it can't be the weather;  I can only assume that it is the extra daylight.

We really don't notice much of what goes on under our noses nature wise and as the farmer walked round the field this morning he saw this nest.   Not very good pictures I am afraid but at least he went back and took an image for me.   It is in the branches of a hawthorn tree, almost by our front gate.  Just think, Mrs Long-tailed tit raised her brood last year right under our noses and we never suspected a thing.




When I came back from the hairdresser's this afternoon, the garden by the side of the house was full of escaped sheep (around twenty of them had jumped the wall and wandered up the road).   The farmer was sitting by the fire and I quickly fetched him to put them back in their field.    He did this with the help of his brother, who just happened to be next door and saw what was happening.   I saw the funny side of it until I went outside and found that the wretched sheep had come to the back door and had attacked my tete-a-tete daffodils which were well in bud.   They had eaten almost every head off.   I have decided I hate sheep.

17 comments:

Maria said...

Oh no, I'm sorry about that! I hope more daffodils will come up soon.
Greetings Maria x

angryparsnip said...

Naughty, Naughty,Naughty sheep !
They decided to go for a walk and find the nive daffodil scent.

cheers, parsnip

donna baker said...

Farm animals are hard to keep as they get out one way or another and don't listen well to commands. Could that nest be a new one with all the green in it? Possible they are fixing it up for spring. I too have heard beautiful songs and thought they know spring is coming. Maybe I should go outside and belt out a loud song. The neighbors would probably call 911.

Rachel Phillips said...

Amazingly arty second photograph. It looks like a face in there and the brambles in the foreground are very Day of the Triffids.

Anonymous said...

Oh no! Your poor daffs. Naughty sheep. Great nest. Clever, clever.

justjill said...

How I wish for long tailed tits. Garden bird watch this weekend. The other one I wait for is a Bullfinch.

Cro Magnon said...

Waking up to the sound of Blackbirds singing is one of life's real pleasures. They haven't started here yet, but with temperatures rising, I have a feeling it won't be long.

Librarian said...

The birds around here definitely sound as if spring was just round the corner. Not the blackbirds, though; I have not heard one yet this year.
How kind of the Farmer to go back to the place to take a picture of the nest for you!

I hope you will have new daffodils and other messengers of spring soon, and none of the sheep has a tummy ache now.

Derek Faulkner said...

Can't believe how far advanced your garden is up there. I would of thought that us down here in the "warm" south would be ahead of you but my snowdrops are only half inch out of the ground and daffodils not even showing yet, let alone being in bud.
As for an hour's extra light at each end of the day, no way - what's going on?

The Weaver of Grass said...

I must point out that tete a tete daffodils are the first to emerge and they are always early. The trough is up against the house wall, so keeps warm.
We have quite a lot of snowdrops out and at Kiplin Hall - about ten miles East of here- the grounds are full of then in full bloom.
Rachel - I shall tell the farmer you think his shot is arty = that will please him.
Donna - that nest will not be a this year's one - the green is moss and will keep green throughout the winter.

Heather said...

Naughty sheep - I hope you will get some secondary buds. It makes me think of the small birds that attack any yellow crocus or polyanthus in my garden. There must be something tasty or nourishing in the yellow ones. They just leave the stems with a few ragged bits on top.
In spite of the semi-rural nature of our surroundings there are street lights everywhere so we sometimes hear birds singing in the middle of the night. They have certainly been singing all winter - such a lovely sound, which brightens up the dreariest of days.
I don't think we have ever had a long-tailed tit's nest in our garden, but they do visit us. Such pretty little birds.

Midmarsh John said...

Even in the depths of December's darkness the Robins could be heard singing here. Always a welcome sound on our early morning walk-about. Your mention of sheep reminded me that when we first moved here sheep were regularly herded down this lane and any open garden gate could be invaded by sheep who always seemed to be able to move faster then the shepherds or their dogs.

Derek Faulkner said...

Pat, some of my daffs. are of the tete a tete variety and yet still not showing.

Jennyff said...

Yorkshire really isn't the best place for a sheep hater to live but I can understand your pain.

Barbara said...

Extra daylight? How can we get some of that?
Escapee animals are funny...until the damage comes to light. I can't believe the rotten sheep ate your daffodils. I don't blame you for hating them. Not one bit!

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

long tailed tit nests are gorgeous.

The extra hour makes a big difference to me, I can get longer to do my cross country runs without getting marooned in the dark

Beverley said...

I saw magpies making a nest this week!!