My Large Fat Balls

This week in our household has mainly revolved around illness. I had my turn at the start of the week and bravely worked through it, Nichola has been fighting it for two days, and this morning Josh complained of 'feeling poorly'. Nichola had to work today on a specific activity that could not be avoided, so I opted to work from home - at least whenever my VPN connection was working.

In between bouts of e-mails, phone calls, making tea and dithering, I spent some time looking to the skies. Everyone else was marvelling yesterday about the harsh-weather movements visibly taking place over their houses, and I wanted to share the experience. So, whenever I gazed into the clear sunny skies I made a note of what flew over. 5 Mute Swans, 4 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Redwings, 2 Carrion Crows, and a fecking Partridge in a pear tree. Despite the sunshine, it remained damned cold - cold enough to make my face sting whilst on the walk to and from school to collect Alex.

I'm considering re-mortgaging the house to keep the sunflower heart feeders stocked up. The hoards of Goldfinches and fewer Greenfinches continue to come, and today there was an increase in Chaffinches aswell (up to 7 at once). Having said that, as last year the Goldfinches in particular are getting very messy - I reckon for every seed they eat 2 or 3 hit the deck. Also, it never ceases to amaze me how bloody stupid Robins and Blackbirds are at feeding stations in cold weather - they spend more time and energy chasing their rivals away than actually eating.

Anyway, my large fat balls continue to be attractive .....