Saturday 28 January 2023

Jack the lad!

 Jack Frost has done his worst (well it was minus eight one night).   He has broken my lovely deep blue pot into five pieces and killed the orange osteospermum who lived in it.My pot and his partner both lived on my front step and Jack killed the osteospermum in that pot too but left me one pot intact.

I look every day for the first signs of life in the garden but as yet no snowdrops and no crocus.   I know in both cases  they will suddenly be there one day.   Both are too far from the window for their leaves to show me where the flowers are - they will suddenly be there one day.   (and you can be assured that I shall shout it from the rooftop so you will know.

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My friend G, who - as the rook flies - lives only around three miles away from me, had fourteen species for the Big Garden Birdwatch'   Here I have not seen a garden bird for weeks - I really do wonder if it is bird flu.

For some reason I slept badly last night and I keep falling asleep as I write so I shall sign off.   See you all tomorrow.

20 comments:

JayCee said...

Jack is a very naughty lad indeed, but he does paint some very pretty pictures on the window.

Rachel Phillips said...

The birds are probably just dining elsewhere.

Susan said...

It is disappointing when a large planted pot shatters from the frost. I also took a chance and left a large oriental pot on my outside deck off the living room. It has survived so far. Regarding wildlife, the wild turkeys are roaming this morning and at 4 AM I was awakened by a coyote hunt.

the veg artist said...

We have crocus, hellebore and even some colour on an emerging primroses - but in South West Wales we are much further south than you, and usually much warmer with our wet westerlies. Our temps have not gone down below about -3, and no cracked pots that I've noticed yet. It's sad to lose a favourite pot or plant, but it creates an opportunity for something different next year!

Tom Stephenson said...

I have noticed quite a few small birds around here, which is quite a relief.

busybusybeejay said...

One night of extreme frost.-7.has done so much damage.Maybe it is plot by garden centres!Only joking.Barbarax

Derek Faulkner said...

All my osteospermums were also killed off last week, despite surviving last winter's frosts.

Also down here, we have been noticing the absence of garden birds for some time now. It's very unlikely to be related to avian flu as that has been mostly affecting seabirds and wildfowl.

gz said...

Avian flu isn't limited to seabirds and wildfowl unfortunately.
Garden birds have also had it, plus the effects of a hot summer, and then wet and cold.

I dread to think what shape our garden will be in when we see it in March!! I hope you may see your spring flowers poking up before too long

The Weaver of Grass said...

Sadly not on my windows JayCee as I face South and also have the central heating on low overnight.
Golly Derek - hope all mine haven't been killed I have a garden full and they provide such colour.

Tasker Dunham said...

Our snowdrops are out here, but not crocuses yet. A visiting flock of redwings stripped the holly bush at the end of the lane, and pair of blackbirds visit the garden, but otherwise not much is going on. Hope you sleep better tonight.

Cro Magnon said...

Plenty of bulbs coming up here, but it'll be a week or so before I know what they all are.

Derek Faulkner said...

In answer to gz, I was simply repeating what Chris Packham said on BBC Winterwatch this week. When asked if avian flu was affecting garden birds, he replied with the statement that I used.

Rachel Phillips said...

The power of television. You have just confirmed many questions I have about media Derek, thank you.

thelma said...

Are the birds hiding maybe? Here 'foreign' Canadian geese fly over every day to the canal, an odd couple of ducks paddle on the canal and enormous white geese dare you to pass them! And then just over the road a blackbird sings its heart out early morning, making my heart leap with thankfulness. I feed the jackdaws now and then with crusts on the windowsill. We have as a nation become obsessed with saving our flora and fauna and rightly so. A friend recently showed a murmuration of thousands of starlings somewhere in Oxfordshire.

gz said...

Thankyou Derek. I am surprised at that...the initial discovery in Shetland was surprisingly in Starlings...

Heather said...

He is such a bad lad, that Jack. I hope you will be able to replace the pots and plants later in the year, and that you will catch up on your sleep. I am looking forward to seeing the first crocus too. We have just one snowdrop in the gardens here but many more to look forward to.

Anne Brew said...

Just completed the garden watch with 10 species.
I think a sparrow hawk dashing through twice before the one hour watch began will have cleared the garden of birds for a while.

the veg artist said...

Nothing to do with this post, but here's a little treat if you've not seen the listing:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001hqnw

Ronald Blythe: Working at Home will be on BBC4 11.15pm tonight (Sunday), will be available on iPlayer afterwards. A film essay about his life, work and friends in Suffolk and Cambridge. With extracts from Akenfield and other works.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks veg artist - I will watch it on iplayer.

Thanks to you all for your exchange of views.

Librarian said...

Hopefully you slept better last night.
Temperatures were a little lower at -4C last night than what they‘d been all of January so far, but not as low as in the first half of December, when we had -13C some nights.
There are crocus, snowdrops, aconites and hellebores in the gardens around here, and even daisies on the grass.