25th January 2021

More winter-flowering shrubs. Wintersweet and and Daphne Jacqueline Postill will support wildlife and give off a lovely perfume. Daphne Jacqueline Postill is expensive to buy but it will give you decades of flower from late December well into February and the most gorgeous scent which fills the air– we can smell it every time we walk up and down our front path. It also provides pollen and nectar for over-wintering insects. It and its close cultivars are more floriferous and longer lived than the better known Daphne Mezereum. Wintersweet, another evergreen which has glossy green leaves with less significant flowers also has a beautiful scent and the black berries are attractive to birds. If you are looking for a small tree, the Autumn-flowering Cherry, which actually flowers for months in winter, on bare branches, doesn’t have a scent but provides pollen and nectar in the otherwise less food-rich months of winter. Conditions: Cold and blue-skied. Temperature: Max 4 Min -C.

22nd January 2021

I have just walked round the garden and taken in the winter flowering plants that lift my spirits and also help wildlife so thought I would cover a few over the coming days. One is a shrub that gets a bit spronky but can be kept in check with a prune after it has finished flowering. It has had flowers for some weeks already and will go on producing them for weeks to come, has a lovely citrusy scent and as you can see, is loaded with pollen. Nectar is also secreted away in the little trumpets of its flowers.– the Winter-flowering Honeysuckle. Blue Tits love the nectar and over-wintering butterflies and bees will emerge to feed on it in those winter periods where the temperature rises over about 10 degrees C. Too cold where I am right now, in Sheffield, but in a warmer spell the Buff-tailed Bumblebee, among others, will take advantage of this winter food-store. Meanwhile, it is lovely to see and smell. Conditions: Frosts and clear, bright days after heavy rain and floods in some parts but luckily not in this area. Temperature: Max 5 Min 0C.

19th January 2021

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker- while males will sometimes tolerate feeding beside each other, as in one of the photos, they are fiercely territorial all year round and at this time of year you may see or hear them squabbling to try to take over or hold a territory, which is usually about 5 hectares (12 acres). These two were doing so (in low light) in our garden yesterday. This behaviour also attracts females, as does the drumming on tree-trunks or even telegraph poles, which will start before long. Great Spotted Woodpeckers are monogamous during a season but they may mate in a different pair the following season, hence females need to be attracted and territories held anew each year. Records show that Great Spotted Woodpeckers are doing quite well at the moment and are frequent visitors to garden feeders, especially on fat or peanuts in winter. Conditions: Cloudy with heavy rain due over the next couple of days. Temperature: Max 11 Min 10 C.

15th January 2021

Most birds struggle in these cold spells, even if you don’t have snow like us in Sheffield, and none more so than the Robin which has to multi-task. Even when it snatches food (in fading light, apologies for the photos) it is constantly looking out for other Robins which might compete for its territory. Robins try to hold territories all year round, unlike many birds. At present, due to the cold weather, we have a least four Robins in the garden, and if not the one defending the territory bobbing, and flicking its wings and tail, and flying towards other Robins, sometimes fiercely fighting them, they are the ones being chased off and need constant vigilance as they feed, stopping and looking round all the time. And that is without contending with predators like Sparrowhawks. Fluffing up to survive the cold they are also trying to stand on one leg to preserve some warmth. They will sing to proclaim and hold a territory but only if the have enough energy left after all this to sing. Conditions: Snow hanging on from yesterday’s two inches. Temperature: Max 0 Min 0C.

10th January 2021

Cold and often gloomy January days, with the light only slowly increasing, but there are hopeful activities for gardeners and wildlife-lovers. Traditionally this is the time to order seeds and of course, we can do a lot by ordering at least some that are good for bees, butterflies ad birds. Lots of seed-companies and wild-life sites now give good information about flowers that are good as well as easy to grow for wildlife, especially insects. How wild-life friendly our gardens and containers are really does make a significant difference for diversity and survival of species. Also, at this time of year several bird species, including Blue and Great Tits, begin to pair-up. You may see them tussling with each other as males try to win over females, or flicking and fluttering their wings to attract her. They are often already beginning to prospect for nest-sites too- they might be investigating nest-boxes. Some of this can be to find roosting sites on our cold nights but even roosting can be part of laying claim to a good nest-site for the spring. If you want to add to your nest-boxes this is therefore a good time to build or buy more, and there’s plenty of advice on sites like the BTO or RSPB. Or if you can afford it, it’s a good time to join a wildlife organisation and support them to do the work for you, especially after their coffers have been so depleted by this covid-hit year! Conditions: Some bright, old days of heavy firsts lingering through te day. Temperature: Max 6 Min 5C.

6th January 2021

Goldfinches-we have a large ‘Charm’ visiting our garden feeders at the moment, partly due to the cold weather and partly due to the general improvement in numbers over the past 90 years. It is worth remembering, especially with the devastating poaching and selling of wild animals in other parts of the world now, that we very nearly caused the eradication of Goldfinches in this country by our own habits in the nineteenth century. Hundreds of thousands of Goldfinches were trapped and sold as caged birds every year and one of the first RSPB (founded in 1889) campaigns was to halt the trade. In the end it took until 1933 for it to be made illegal to sell wild birds here. In Anglo-Saxon times the Goldfinch was called Thisteluige’ or ‘Thistle-tweaker’ and the scientific name, ‘Carduelis carduelis’ derives from the Latin for Thistle. Of course they will enjoy sunflower, nyger and other seeds from garden feeders. I love watching them squabbling for a place on the feeder, balancing by spreading their wings, revealing their broad gold band of feathers, and pecking towards other finches and Tits to ward them off while they tuck in. Conditions: Cold and bright. Temperature: Max 2 Min -3 C.