Wet and Cold

We needed more peanuts for our feeders, so I took Spike with me on a 'job' to go get some. And there was a deal that if you spent a certain amount on a particular brand of peanuts you got a peanut feeder free... no way we could pass that up! He chose an apple shaped one and he is very proud of his 'apple feeder'. Here is a very blurry picture of a tit investigating it...

To be honest they seem more interested in the one they were used to, but I'm sure they'll figure it out. For now it is just one adventurous tit braving the scary new thing in the tree!

But look who I got a picture of the other day! Our lovely Greater Spotted Woodpecker! He has been a regular visitor this winter. He grabs a peanut from the original (long) feeder and takes it to the stake next to the tree and hammers away at it. It's always a thrill to see him! And the frost this morning has brought them all flocking in. Nothing better than standing in the kitchen with a hot mug of coffee watching the birds and ignoring the housework... (there you go, a confession of a guilty pleasure!)

It has been pretty rainy over here in the past week or so.

Last week the North West of the UK got it all - Cumbria (the Lake District) was terribly flooded. This week it looks like it's our turn. This is what it's like just down the hill and 'round the corner from us. Those are newly built half-a-million houses there in danger of being flooded out. I wonder what the new inhabitants think about that! Living close to a river is lovely, but this close? Hmm...