Winners and Losers

         A New Year and the rain is back. After the frost and snow the wood is now saturated, the paths are muddy, there is standing water all over and the tracks are impossible to drive on without causing damage. This makes for the worst conditions for vulnerable trees.  When the wind picks up roots in wet ground cannot hold the trees firmly enough to prevent them being blown over. The saddest casualty so far is the old dead pine that Great Spotted Woodpeckers nested in last year. It had been dead for a few years and must have been pretty rotten so not able to withstand the windy gusts of the last few weeks. I am sure the woodpeckers will find another tree and I have kept the top so maybe a Great Tit will nest in it, so all is not lost.

       Talking of losers, it does look like the Tawny Owls have lost out once again to those wretched Grey Squirrels. They have managed as last year to take over the owl box in spite of my efforts to keep them out. They really are pests and sadly the owls find them very difficult to eject, but like the woodpeckers I am sure they will find another place to set up a home as they must have done before I ever thought of putting up a nest box.

        The mild conditions are a sure sign of our changing climate and very worrying, although small birds find it far easier to find food and survival rates are better in mild weather. It is really good to have the Marsh Tits back and using the feeding station.....yesterday I watched three of them there, such cracking little birds, real winners.

The woodpeckers' nest grounded

Marsh Tits at the feeder

Caught on camera....the woodsman's worst enemy

....blooming cheek !

Filling it up with leaves.....I removed them later !

The last date just before Christmas of a Tawny Owl investigating the box