This mornings sunrise over the common

Beautiful delicate frost today, only vegetation over a certain height had any frost, so most of the common was green but where it hadn't been cut in the Autumn and all the trees were white,- quite stunning!

The first tentative signs that spring is just around the corner

It' not here yet, not by any stretch of the imagination, but the sun has shown itself again, after a week of gloom, so I took the opportunity to have a walk around our sodden garden and sure enough the first signs of Spring emerging became more evident as I looked harder.

honeysuckle

mixed bulbs

rhubarb

snowdrops

primrose

A mixture of black and white.

From our gate we look across a common, the common is separated on far side from fields by a brook, which is currently flooded. This has attracted hundreds of geese and ducks, I have posted pictures of these floods on my 'beyond my gate' blog.
Today looking across the common two Mute swans had taken up their positions by the brook and covering the fields beyond were hundreds of crows.

Mr S walked along the footpath across the common this afternoon when walking our dog, what a commotion! 

It was a mixed group of Carrion crows and Jackdaws.

Black and white on such a grey day, oh for some brighter days with colour again... please

So how does a squirrel manage to defy a squirrel proof bird feeder?

So as you can see, the squirrel has returned and it is costing us a fortune in bird seed!

The reason it is managing to get to the seed is really quite obvious.

Half way up the feeder pole is a circular tray which acts as a barrier, and for a couple of years it did very effectively.

The only problem is the tray is now in a very sorry state, this is mainly due to a design flaw.

When it rains water runs down the inside of the poles even though there is a cap of sorts on the top,

when the water reaches the base it has no where to go, so gradually the pole fills up with water.

Then when it gets cold the water freezes causing this to happen....

See how the top pole section is being pushed out ! 

 So before the ice pushes the top pole out totally, which will send everything crashing to the ground again and causing even more damage to the tray, I had better get out there and remove the offending ice!

There all done! 

 and before I've even managed to close the door the birds have already returned to feed!