Frosty the no snow man

Getting a bit behind on this again! This comes of working and commuting in the daylight hours - so by the time I've got home it's often too late to see any wildlife! This year's challenge is to keep a wildlife journal - hopefully this will keep me up to date with what's happening when/where - as otherwise I just tend to write my musings and sightings on random pieces of paper which get lost or converted into shopping lists....

Winter cosmos

So far, the winter has been relatively mild. The warmer temperatures have encouraged the [probably] already confused plants into either flowering later [continuing on from summer 2025] or flowering earlier [for 2026]. My cyclamens, planted in November, are looking rather fabulous - adding a nice pop of colour to the front garden. Also in the front garden is a cosmos flower [!] - having struggled to keep these alive over the summer, combating drought or slugs, here they are flowering in the midst of a Scottish winter.

I'm hoping for a good floral turnout in the wildflower area this year - the last couple of years have been a little bit sparse, but now there's a fair amount of greenery. It's really true that some wildflowers do need sowing in the autumn; gives them a good length of time to get comfortable before flowering. There will definitely be a surplus of teasels (Dipsacus fullonum) and rose campion (Silene coronaria) - so let me know if you'd like any! As before, I've left all the seed heads still standing and the birds have been making short work of any loose seeds. A lone ragwort in the back garden which was still flowering last week succumbed to this week's frosts; and yet earlier yesterday I noticed a blue tit gracefully balancing on the dead stem, tweaking morsels from the drooping flowerhead.

Pigeon in the pyrcantha

The pyracantha berries, which everyone has been steadfastly ignoring since they appeared in June/July, were suddenly in high demand, particularly amongst a pair of wood pigeons and magpies. They were extremely secretive in their berry collecting - every time I spotted them and tried to photograph them in the act, they bolted. I'm really pleased that the birds are going for them - although I don't know if this means it's going to be milder winter; if birds are already eating berries or if people are being more conservative with their bird seed.

Sparrow rearranging foilage

In the back garden, the forsythia is flowering - I'm still not a fan of this plant! The flowers are a welcome splash of colour, but they seem somehow too bright and harsh in the winter light. The stems are frustrating and need to be kept in check - as soon as they reach the soil, they immediately put down roots and runners. They've even put some runners through the mortar in the back wall! The sparrows, by contrast, love it. They tweak the yellow petals [not quite sure why], and dart in and out of the intertwining stems. There's some ivy (Hedera helix) somewhat taking over above and through the forsythia - growing in such a way that its forming several 'balconies', like one would find in a theatre.

The sparrows shout from their balcony of ivy,

cheering their accomplices who gather grain on the fertile floor*

[*overspill from the adjacent bird feeder, but it's less poetic].

Also, check out this awesome flower spike on the Fatsia japonica (below)!

We had a day of hard frost in late November, and we've just had a week of hard frosts [January]. November's frost brought starling murmurations to the city's skies, spectacular displays of twisting and turning, like schools of aerial fish being chased by invisible prey. I found on my morning commute that when gazing up at the sky to search for these ethereal entities something else would catch my attention.

A winter dawn is cold, but colourful; misty blues and yellows or vibrant streaks of pinks and gold provide a stunning backdrop to the architectural beauty of trees in winter. I do think that when devoid of their foliage, people seem even less aware of the beauty of trees. Winter tree identification can be rather aesthetically pleasing, as well providing a unique challenge to test yourself! Some trees are trickier than others, and I personally wouldn't stress about working out the sub species to the n-th degree [unless that floats your goat]. I'd grand plans about sketching or painting different species - but instead I'll just suggest looking at this webpage https://www.treeguideuk.co.uk/mini-guides/winter-tree-shape/. Elm and lime trees always seem the 'messiest' of the trees, with misshapen branches or long thin stems emerging from otherwise sturdy limbs; although this is often due to pruning practices. Birches and willows have a graceful, drooping shape; whereas sycamore branches resemble tenderstem broccoli stalks, with each branch ending in an umbel-like inflorescence of smaller twigs.

Coal tit perched on the safety rail of the bird bath

The frosts brought the neighbourhood birds back in droves: robins aplenty; blue, coal and great tits; jackdaws and seemingly all the pigeons that normally bask in the sunshine on the roof of the building over the wall [25 in total]. We've had a definite influx of blackbirds - male, female and juvenile. They've been re-arranging the strulch [mineralised straw mulch - excellent for water retention and keeping weeds at bay] to their hearts content, ignoring my pleas of leaving the place as you find it. Apparently the Scottish Outdoor Access Code is not applicapble here.

All the ponds have frozen, although the small sunken baking tin was the only one not frozen solid. The ice on the barrel seems to have frozen in layers - not sure why or indeed, how.

Fur - st Footing

Sassy was our 'first footing' on the turn of the new year; gracefully accepting a walnut before flouncing away along the back wall to the cypress hedge. Three others followed in short succession. Presumably this will be a bountiful year for/of squirrels? Courtship season is in full swing; many hapless [and yet well-endowed] males are being led on a merry game of follow-my-leader by rather unscrupulous females. One male has some rather unusual facial markings - with exceptionally bushy/prickly fur around his face, looking for all the world like a pair of mutton-chops. Sassy has lost the top of her tail [possibly in a romantic encounter] and the other youngsters continue to run amok...

It's important to consider the correct lighting when installing an outside squirrel

Finishing off this week with a piece of artwork I finished on Friday. Inspired by the tree silhouettes on my morning commute, but also signifying the transient nature of trees - and how much the environment lacks in their absence.

"Ghost Trees" - R.Bielby [soft pastel and pastel pencil]