It’s been brrrrrrrr chilly and as well as plenty of snow and ice, we’ve also noticed an amazing number of wild birds to our feeders with a new species having arrived to our garden in recent weeks. The Lesser Redpoll Acanthis cabaret is a small finch.This tiny finch – only slightly bigger than a Blue Tit – is streaky and brown with patches of red on its head and sometimes its breast. They like to hang upside down to feed in trees. It has recently been ‘split’ from the Common (or Mealy) Redpoll, a larger and paler species which is a winter visitor to the UK. We have been extremely lucky to have three regular daily visitors on our niger seed feeder. Along with the Redpolls we have Nuthatches making frequent stops to fill up on seeds.
Don’t forget that January is also the time to take part in the annual Big Garden Birdwatch
Need help identifying your garden visitors? Order an RSPB book as well as this one from Collins
Meanwhile, the woodland and hills that surround us have frequently been visited by roe deer and brown hares. The frost formations have been quite beautiful despite being it being so cold!
One thing we do have is gorgeous sunsets even when it’s misty! The photo below was taken late afternoon in Wanlockhead as the sun slowly disappeared beyond the hills of the Southern Uplands. If you enjoy the outdoors, love to walk and like to explore then the Southern Upland Way is a 215 mile coast to coast walk which takes you through this magical place and if you don’t fancy camping, book a night or two at the Wanlockhead Inn where you can stay in wooden pods, enjoy freshly cooked food and sample something from the bar!
Next month we’ll be focusing on the emerging shoots of winter flowers, updating you on the amazing wildlife here and bringing you the latest news from the world of Books!
