Ice in the Creek

The Big Freeze seems to be over. Well, it was a big freeze for here, anyway, two nights and two days with the temperature below zero - the stream was frozen and the creek itself was full of ice. It's put paid to all the unseasonal flowering things; even the heliotrope looks all withered and unhappy. There's blackthorn in blossom up at Churchtown, though.

This afternoon almost all the ice had gone from the creek, and there were a dozen swans there, including two which still have brown plumage, presumably the ones I saw at Waterside. They were all milling about quite calmly until suddenly one of the brown ones ran across the surface of the water, wings flapping wildly. I thought he was attempting to take off but actually he was just eager to be first to the crumbs which the lady who lives overlooking the creek was throwing off her balcony on to the shore. The other young one used the same technique to get on shore, while all the rest paddled as usual. Ty and I decided that we didn't want to walk past them while they were hoovering up the bread so made a tactical withdrawl back up the coombe.

Back in the garden, today for the first time I have actually seen a bird using the fat ball feeder, which has been up there for six weeks or so. It was a young male sparrow, obviously a little more adventurous than the rest, as he is the only sparrow to use the peanut feeder, as well. The others will learn, though. The peanut feeder I put up on the silver birch is being used more and more by the little groups of mixed tits and finches that pass through. Very few of them come down to the feeders in the garden, especially when there are big groups of sparrows quarrelling over what's there.