COLD

Winter is here. Heavy frost and cold air that can produce a cough if sucked in too deeply. The ground is like iron in the morning, softening by lunchtime. The ponies, when fighting over food, slither over and get up again with no sense of the embarrassment we humans might feel. The Renault is on borrowed time, so scraping the ice off the inside is only something I will have to do a few more times. We went to see a VW Polo on Saturday, only six months younger than the Renault-ecosystem, but with all its parts intact, and will be collecting it this coming Saturday. Here are some frosty pictures:

Oak

Beech

Snippet

Madam Lady Jane

Morning sun

Gorse

Moss

Dead grass

More grasses

Acer

More Beech

The plant whose name I can never remember in the garden

Marjoram

Fern

Today was the first day the Golden Plover flock were absent from their usual patch, a seemingly fruitless area of scrubby grass, but here they are yesterday.

A pair of Stonechats have appeared. I've not seen any for months; perhaps they've been recovering from their multiple broods over summer. No breeding colours present now.

Today I noticed smoke in the distance. Perhaps they are swailing over near Hound Tor and Haytor (seen on the Horizon). You may remember a picture in the spring of a farmer friend cutting fire breaks up here in preparation for swailing, but then it rained incessantly and the opportunity was lost. 

The Army were flying over us again today.......

.........and gone.

In the garden we have a pair of Bullfinches visiting but, unfortunately, they refuse to come close enough for me to get a decent picture. Still, anything is better than last year's Snow Bunting shot, which brings me out in a sweat every time I think about it!

I need to clean the windows AGAIN as these look a little grainier than I would like. Double glazing + grime + feeding station at weird angle + reflection of tap = not so great shots. However.........

Blackbird male

Chaffinch female

Dunnock

I wait with baited breath for the post each day for the arrival of some of the cards, including the rainbow sheep, whose printed success is in the balance I think. Because we're rather remote, the guarantee of its arrival before midday doesn't really apply, with our postie usually rolling up around 1.00pm. Nice of them to come at all quite frankly. I feel the same way about the rubbish and recycling; it's a miracle. So, until next time, here are Snippet and Jack enjoying the dry weather yesterday.