Ramblings

Thursday 1^st January – Leominster – Thickening grey cloud covers the sky. Earlier the sun blazed behind strips of cloud but is now hidden. Onto the railway bridge. There is no frost today. Some Robins tick in the trees, others are in song. The Hwlffordd/Haverfordwest bound train arrives at the station. Onto Butts Bridge. Two Dippers dart off upstream. One of the resident Song Thrushes is in good voice. A pair of Wood Pigeons clatter in courtship. Blackbirds fly to and fro across the river. The bushes, lower branches of trees and the fence beside the old track are covered in white baubles of Old Man’s Beard. The sun rises above the low-lying bank of cloud that was obscuring it.

Down from the railway bridge onto the ginnel. On the wall a large mounds of ivy have a substantial crop of mace-like heads of black berries. Into Pinsley Mill. A Great Tit sings its two note song from across the railway. Another Song Thrush is loudly establishing its territory. A Redwing is watching from the very top of a Hawthorn. The Caerfyrddin/Carmarthen train slows for the station. More Redwings fly across the orchard. Blackbirds, a pair of Magpies and a Grey Squirrel search the ground in the Millennium park. There is a quiet thud as the occasional apple falls to the ground. At the end of the park, a number of Blue Tits are dashing around the branches seeking insects in the cracks and crevices.

Into the churchyard to the sound of yet more Song Thrushes. Fresh molehills have been thrown up. Despite the low temperature, there are small clouds of gnats dancing in the air. It starts to rain. Into Church Street. The local flock of Feral Pigeons is chasing around over the rooftops.

Saturday 3^rd January – Leominster – A “Supermoon”, the Wolf Moon is shining in the western sky before dawn. Nearby is Jupiter. The Manchester to Faro 737, lights flashing, passes in from of the planet. It is cold but not a heavy frost.

Home – Chinese greens and lettuces in the greenhouse continue to grow very slowly. The latter have suffered some losses by slugs. House Sparrows and Blue Tits are emptying the seed feeder daily. Dunnocks creep around beneath eating up the spilled seed. The two larger hens are laying regularly and their eggs have very slowly become larger. The Rhode at least has grown her feathers back and looks less gaunt but has not come back into lay.

Sunday 4^th January – Home – In the early hours, the tops of walls and roofs are lit white by the brilliantly shining moon. A Tawny Owl calls from the Horse Chestnut. The morning is cold, a sharp frost under a cloudless sky. Out to the chickens to change the iced water container. A kettle of hot water is poured into one of the bird baths.

Leominster – Onto the railway bridge. The moon is on the north-west sky, the sun peeping above the south-east horizon. The resident Song Thrush is singing. A Chaffinch pinks. Cloud is building on the west. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg continues to fall very slowly. Wrens spit out sharp calls of alarm. A Blue Tit chatters briefly. The sun lights up the top of the Black Poplars.

Into the Millennium orchard. Chaffinches are feeding on the cider apples. A Blackcap is in the Herefordshire Beefling tree. Wood Pigeons and Blackbirds fly to and fro. One of the latter is pulling Holly berries off a tree by the Peace Garden. The damaged plum tree has gone from Pinsley Mead. The ground crunches underfoot in the churchyard. A Magpie churrs. Wood Pigeons are mating outside the church.

Home – A Wren has got into the chicken run. I leave the back open hoping it will have the sense to escape. The vegetable beds are frozen hard. Leaning on the fork gets into the surface and the last of the first sowing of carrots is lifted. They are a decent size but rather battered by slugs. The later sowing will not come to much as I failed to thin them. The Wren seems to have left the run.

Wednesday 7^th January – Home – Yesterday there was a dusting of snow. Some areas of the country had considerably more. Here the snow has gone by this morning leaving patches of ice. Rhode seems to be taking an interest in the nest box, hopefully to return to lay and not getting broody again. A Robin watches me fill the seed feeder. Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves seem flighty – could they be anticipating the incoming storm? Alas, no egg from Rhode!

Friday 9^th January – Home – Storm Goretti, named by by Météo-France, has passed through. It was one of the strongest storms for some years causing much damage, bringing down hundreds of trees and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes. In many areas, large amounts of snow have cancelled trains and buses, closed schools and made driving conditions hazardous. However, it was something of a non-event here – a light coating of snow turning to slush as the sleet turned to rain and not much in the way of wind.

The day slowly grows milder. By mid afternoon, much of the snow has melted. Dark clouds thicken in the south. At last there is a green egg in the nest – Rhode has come back into lay.

Saturday 10^th January – Home – The morning is bright and cold. House Sparrows are feeding in numbers on the seed feeder. “Spotty” the Blackbird watches. Wrinkled Herefordshire Russet apples put out yesterday have gone, so are replaced. Patches of snow still persist around the garden.

Leominster – There is a great turnout for the Leominster Wassail. People gather in Corn Square to watch a Mummers Play by Jenny Pipes Morris, followed by songs by the Leominster Community Choir. The Jenny Pipes then lead the crowd down to the Community Orchard where more songs and the modern Wassail are performed. Then cider!

Sunday 11^th January – Humber – Another round of the BTO Winter Bird Survey. The morning is dark, grey, wet and cold. A strong wind roars through the trees and telephone wires. Patches of snow linger by the roadside and on the edges of the fields. A Red Kite searches above Stoke Prior School. Onto the Steens Bridge road. A flock of fifteen Redwings flies over. A Goldcrest is in the hedgerow moving rapidly whilst seeking insects. Wood Pigeons and Carrion Crows fly over. A Common Buzzard is trying to balance on swaying wires.

It is bitterly cold so I drive to Humber and park in the green burial site. Along to Hilltop farm. Pair of Ravens pass. Blackbirds are in the hedge row. The farmer is checking his cattle in the shed. Down the road to Humber. A Carrion Crow bobs up and down as it caws loudly. Emerald green mosses grow up stalks in the roadside bank. The water level in Humber Brook is much higher than usual but is still muddy-coloured. Jackdaws are in the trees around the church. Towards Humber Court Farm. A small flock a Fieldfares flies over. There are also more Redwings here.

Back opposite the church is a small flock of brown birds in Alder trees. I struggle to identify them as they are at the limit of my binocular vision and silhouetted against the grey sky, however eventually I managed to identify them as Siskins. Another Red Kite flies over and a Common Buzzard flies low through the burial ground.

Monday 12^th January – Leominster – The weather has turned much milder but it is raining. Down to Butts Bridge. The River Lugg has risen considerably, around four feet, and muddy brown water flows rapidly under the bridge. A Mistle Thrush calls from the trees and there is the odd squeak of a Blue Tit.

Round to Pinsley Mill. Several Blackbirds, Blue Tits, Chaffinches and a Redwing feasting on the haws. Into the orchard. Ladies Fingers cider apples are last falling in large quantities. A Wales bound train rushes through, clearly not stopping at Leominster. There are a good number of Blue and Great Tits in the Millennium Park. Onto Pinsley Mead where Chaffinches are chasing through the trees. A Cormorant passes over from the west. The water level in the River Kenwater has also risen considerably and flows full of mud.

More Chaffinches are in a Rowan tree at the west end of the church. Nearby a Blackbird is in song. The rain has almost stopped.