Green woodpecker

I went to the cemetry in Shoreham to place flowers on my dads grave when I saw a green woodpecker fly in to the cemetry and peck at the grass. (no pic unfortunately)

Walk in the Snow

The snow continued overnight. I measured the snow in the back garden and it was 12 cm deep.

After working thye first part of the morniong (I would have liked to have gone outstraight away) I went for a walk around the village.

The road outside our house. Portslade Old village is a beautiful place, made all the more beautiful by the blanket of snow. There were quite a few birds around, espcially blue and great tits.

Great tits

I carried on walking to Easthill Park which had also be transformed by the snow.

I watched several grey squirrels chasing each other in the snow, scampering up trees and along branches.

As they ran across branches they scattered snow.

Squirrel drey

As I came out of the park I noticed a great spotted woodpecker fly into the park from across the road. I went back in and noticed there was actuially two great spotted woodpeckers.

The woodpeckers moved up the branches, stopping occasionally to peck at the bark. After a few minutes they flew off further into the park and dissapeared into the top of an evergreen.

Snow

A surprising heavy snowfall (for Sussex) this evening.

Winter bees and hoverflies

A nice clear (if cold) sunny day, very welcome after all the rain and gales. A red admiral flew around the garden looking for nectar. Two large bees visited the hebe which is still in flower.

One appeared to be a large buff tailed bumble bee posibly a queen) and a large red tailed bumble bee, which flew off before I could get a close look.

There were also numerous hoveflies also visting the hebe.

Woodpigeon

I'm not really a fan of woodpigeons, mainly because they they eat all the food that I put out for other smaller birds. However, this particular woodpigeon has been doing a great job in the garden eating all the acorns from the neigbours tree (not sure what species its not a traditional oak tree).

Anyway, come spring the acorns sprout everywhere - the early leaves are a bit like holly. Really hard to get rid of. If I left them we would be living in a firest by now!

Fox V Cats

There is often concern by cat owners for the safety of their pet in regads to foxes. cats seem totally capable of holding their own, in many cases its the fox that is entering the cats territory which automatically gives it the upper hand. Ourcat thropws itself at the window if a fox passes through our garden.

Last night, we were awoken by the sound of cats outside our bedroom window, including our cat which we keep in at night (until the roost birdswoken up). It turns out she had burst her way through the locked cat flap to get out. She appears to have chased the fox down the side of the house and into the front garden.

When we looked there was our cat in the front garden, two other cats on the other side of the road and the fox cowered down in the road. I think it was just bad luck that the other two cats were there. As the cats on the otherside of the road slowly backed away, the fox got up and trotted off down the road.

Long-tailed tits and Jays

A dull showery day was brightened momentarily by a small flock of long tailed tits. I estimated about 6, but they are very quick and erratic in the way the fly around. I was alerted to their presence by their calls as they foraged in the garden. The pictures are not very good because of the dark sky and the rain on the windows.

The jays are still very noisily feeding on the acorns