Middle Spotted Woodpecker and December's tree surgery

Brrrr! We are having a cold snap with real winter weather, something we haven't had for more than a few days here and there for quite a few years. The lake has been frozen over for about a week now and every morning I have to go out and take fresh water to the hens whose water bowls have frozen solid. I'm doing the same for the wild birds' water too as they can't drink from the lake edge. It's still not been as cold as in the early years here when we reguarly had -8C, but it was down to -5C/6C a few times. I'd also forgotten about freezing pipes so we've nearly lost our kitchen cold water feed a couple of times but I've got to the tap to run it just in time, however because it's been so long since we had such a cold period I'd forgotten about the 2nd floor shower room, so the cold feed is frozen solid there! It's the first time I've worn my thermals for quite a few years too. Aaarrgh, roll on spring, I can do without all this! (However, the sun is shining all day long..... it is so much lovelier than the milder gloom and drizzle which is due to come back soon.... you just can't win!) (That blurb was written two days ago and the end of the freeze has just started with cloud and some drizzle!)

We have a new(ish) visitor to the peanut feeder. It's a Middle Spotted Woodpecker which is a fair bit smaller and a lot prettier than the Great Spotted Woodpecker. We've seen it here before many years ago (and a Lesser Spotted too) but this time it has become a regular visitor. I haven't got any very good photos so far because the only times I've had my camera to hand have been when it's been either early in the day with low light, or just plain gloomy with low light!

Having seen the state of the peanut feeder in K's photo it was time for a new one, and thankfully he found a spare feeder in the barn, ditto a seed dispenser too which is hanging on our other feeding station. I've now found a good use for the last of the rubbery windfall apples as the blackbirds are enjoying munching on them. This is the kind of weather when it's really important to feed the wild birds and especially to provide them with fresh water to drink and bathe in. (But you knew all that, didn't you?)

This is Keith's photo.

The ducks have managed to keep a small pool of water unfrozen; unfortunately for all concerned this is not close to the bank where we can put food. At first K managed to break the ice but the next day it was already too thick! Dirk is hopeless on the ice and skids everywhere and looks like he's about to break his legs, and although Rachel is managing to get up onto the ice more easily than him, she doesn't seem to want to walk over to the bank where the food is. Luckily K had a brainwave and the pole he was using to break the ice with was put to good use again - this time with the apple picking basket holding duck food! He can just reach to put the food on the ice and the ducks are happily eating it from the water. Honestly, these creatures don't want much, do they?!!

Going back to December, our 'tree man' came and felled a load of trees again, just like he did three years ago. This time some largish trees had to go, mostly due to crowding out with other trees. I had to decide which ones were most important to keep - for example, although I hate to see a beautiful lime tree being cut down, I have five of them, yet only one cedar, as we already felled one of them which had obliterated the path down to the beach. So out of three specimen trees growing into each other, the lime had to go. In the photo below it's a sycamore which has had the chop as it was shading out my liquidambar. We have loads of sycamores so that wasn't a difficult decision. All this wood will be good firewood in two years time.

The monster shredding machine. This was parked right outside the chicken run and the poor hens cowered indoors for about three days, terrified in case the scary monster started making loud noises again. Sorry hens! We have kept a lot of the shredded wood and put it down on the veg patch paths again, and also on the path leading down to the lake.

The lime tree getting the chop but one of these three trees had to go.

Originally the tree man was going to have a bash at removing the fallen stand of alders in the lake, but as the water level had risen by a couple of feet since he first viewed it this was deemed impossible and he will return next year when the water level is at its lowest. He had a mate in to help as there was a fair bit of work involved here - anyway I had a brainwave and suggested that as they couldn't do the tree in the lake, could they prune my apple trees and reduce the height considerably. We had already asked him to clear the stream banks of brambles which were taller than my head - this is a job that's bad enough doing every year but when you haven't done it for three years it gets out of control. I can tell you we both breathed a HUGE sigh of relief at not having to prune the apples and pears this year!

Taken from my living room window - man up an apple tree.

I'm surprised they managed to climb up these relatively thin branches - and so overcrowed inside the trees too.

Afterwards, one of the trees with lopped off branches. All these fallen apples have been feeding Redwings and Fieldfares this winter.

The stream is visible! The other side has now been cleared by the owners of that land - it will grow back but K is going to try to strim it and keep the brambles and nettles down. In the past I've wanted to keep the nettles for the wildlife, but there are times when nature just has to be controlled. There are tons of nettles out in the ditches for the butterflies and moths to lay their eggs on.

At this time (December) there were still some leaves clinging to the Liquidambar tree and glowing in the sunshine.

Even on the ground they retained their colour for a long time. This way you get to enjoy the colourful leaves for much longer!

I'm jumping backwards and forwards in time but I have already uploaded the photos and can't be bothered to delete and rearrange the order here! In this cold sunny snap it seemed a good time to burn all the crap we've been piling up in the veg patch waiting for there to be enough to have a good bonfire. We are not supposed to have bonfires anymore for environmental reasons and because of the nuisance to neighbours. Well we didn't really know that but we do now, although having googled to try to find the law on this one for our department, all I can find is a lot of conflicting information on government sites. What else is new?!

You can see how much stuff there was - a mix of brambles, whippy elm growth, sycamore saplings, ivy and a fair bit of dead thuya hedge, plus a lot of veg patch weeds. The official advice is to compost or shred your garden waste (we do, but you can't do this kind of thing!) or take it to the tip. This would be quite a few trailer loads plus a lot of the twigs and stems would need to be cut to fit into our small trailer, all of which takes a lot of time. I've been cracking on with clearing the jungle much faster by not having to snip up bramble stems along the way.

It did produce a lot of smelly smoke but it's not like we're doing this every week - in fact it is only our fourth bonfire here in 12 years! We won't have one again though now we know it's not permitted. Since I wrote this one of our neighbours has had a smelly bonfire..... :-)

To finish off, whilst I was clearing up our overgrown pathways I found this twig with some interesting fungi on it. It's dead wood and the twig is thinner than my finger so the fungi is really small. I wasn't entirely sure if that is what it was but the underside of the fungi looks a bit like Turkey Tails. The small bits look like scale insect though!

Honestly, the less frequently I blog, the longer my posts get. If you made it this far, well done! It's been quite a marathon for me writing it..... :-)

December bees, fungi and garden birds

We managed to beat the record this year, by two whole days, of the latest date that the lake has filled completely (18th Dec)! We now have the familiar and somewhat comforting sound of running water again. Somehow the ducks and moorhens seem more active when the lake is full, though I have no idea why.

Still there are no frosts and the weather continues unseasonally mild with plenty of flowers for the few insects still about. Yesterday when I was out I had a look around the overgrown jungle that was once a pristine veg patch and saw a couple of bumble bees buzzing around feeding on the borage! There were also dung flies on the plants too but as I had to use my zoom to try to get pics as I can't really get into this jungle to get close to the plants, I only had distant blurs of them. I also noticed the usual sunny winter day critters about, wolf spiders which come up on the wall of the duck shed to sun themselves, and Fire Bugs which also like south facing sunny surfaces.

This bumble bee is covered in mites - I cropped this shot so that you can just about see them. These are the kind that hitch a ride from one bumble bee nest to another feeding on the detritus in the nest. As far as I understand they are not actually harmful to the bee, i.e. they are not blood sucking mites, but they can weigh them down, making flying and feeding harder for them. This is called commensal symbiosis and this page about bumble bees explains more about the different kinds of symbiosis, the word meaning "interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association, typically to the advantage of both", whilst commensalism means "an association between two organisms in which one benefits and the other derives neither benefit nor harm". Having looked at many parasites and hitchikers through my macro lens I find this kind of thing very interesting.

Hitchhiking mites and so cool to see those pollen sacs -
amazing that they can get filled in Decmber!

The other bumble bee who I don't think has any mites.

Surprise! Purple Sprouting Broccoli already. Only on one plant though.

Yeah OK, look it's good for the wildlife......l

Here's a crop of the same shot showing in the centre and just off to the left some self seeded brassicas - originally I thought they were all PSB but some are actually kale. What is interesting is that the self seeded kale is not purple like the parent plant, but does have purple stems. And it isn't so curly. Anyhow I've been pulling them up and the chickens have been going crazy eating them! If there was a way to (1) herd them in, and (2) fence off the brassicas that I don't want them to eat, I'd let them in here to help clear the plot. Trouble is Blondie got in here one day and all she did was scratch up the paths. Maybe it was too overgrown even for the chooks? Hmmm!

Spot the self seeded brassicas.

Borage again in another of my overgrown plots.

The recent rain has brought forth some fungi, although most are very small and I have to watch my step! I'm glad to see the coral fungus appearing under the pine trees again - I only noticed them for the first time last year. The photos of them are further down.    

Tiny fungus, there are lots like this and yes,
I did get very wet knees taking these 'shroom shots!

Bigger fungi.

This was interesting for the gall on the oak leaf - the donut like thing is a Silk Button Gall and is caused by wasps (Neuroterus numismalis) laying eggs in the buds in spring. There are usually a number of these galls on one leaf and this species has two generations, whose eggs cause two different kinds of gall on the leaves - a better explanation is found on Nature Spot here. I found it interesting the first time I found out what it was, as I remember 'oak apples' (another kind of gall caused by another wasp) from when I was a kid, but didn't know, nor probably cared, what caused them.

A solitary Silk Button Gall on an oak leaf.

Top right is unknown fungus on fallen dead wood, probably oak,
and the rest are Coral Fungus.

There have been a couple of new visitors to the bird feeders so I've managed some quick, grab the camera and shoot, shots. These are all taken through filthy double glazing so I'm quite pleased with them.

The first time Goldfinches have deigned to visit our peanut feeder!

And then a second one came along, sharing the peanuts with a Blue Tit.

Goldfinches and Blue Tits.

We haven't had a Marsh Tit visit for quite a few
years so it's nice to see one back again.

Nuthatches are back again too.

To be honest we probably see more birds in winter -
top left is an annoyed Blue Tit, top right a Great Tit,
bottom left a Song Thrush, and bottom right a male Blackbird.

A cute Blue Tit, again taken through dirty double glazing!

I don't really want to mention that C word because this year I couldn't care less, probably even less than I did last year when I was suffering radiotherapy burns. I'm not sending C cards this year either; if people who know about my health problems want to know how I'm doing they can either search for my blog or email me. There are a few people who I am not in touch with except for at C time who don't know the situation, so I will send a couple of email greetings with my not exciting or interesting news, and one that'll involve a snail mail letter, but I'll do it all in good time, when it suits me. I feel a bit guilty for these people as I know what it's like when you don't hear from someone, then wonder if something happened to them (particuarly if they are elderly).

It's not just my depression/lethargy which is making me want to forget this time of year (which I hate anyway), it's all the deaths and illnesses that have befallen our family and friends this year - more than I have mentioned on this blog - which make both of us not give a toss about a superficial commercial load of rubbish. Bah humbug to you all. :-)

P.S. I might make some mince pies though! 

P.P.S. Thank you to those who have sent cards, I do appreciate it. xx

Getting out and about a few weeks ago

It's turned so chilly and gloomy of late and I doubt I'll be wearing T-shirts again this year. I'm ready to dig out my winter woollies. But I'm behind as usual with my blogging so here are some pics from a couple of walks going back to the end of September and the beginning of October, so I'm already looking fondly back at the sun and T-shirts!

The first was a lake (Etang de Boulet) only about 15 mins drive from home - we'd been here once before for a short walk years back but hadn't realised there was a track all the way around (I'm not up to that one yet!) and that there were boardwalks and a couple of bird hides, although these are rudimentary ones without seats - but you still get a view out over the lake hidden from the birds. The lake level was very low as you can see from the first photo. I'm standing in what would be the lake bed during a wet winter but a perfect 'lawn' had sprung up! There wasn't a lot around in the way of bird life other than lots of Coots, some Great Crested Grebes, a couple of Little Egrets and some Cormorants, but it may be worth checking out in winter for ducks. I did see a guy with a tripod and either a huge lens or spotting scope, so I'm guessing there must be some interesting species at times.

Yours truly.

Lake view over grassland area and the beach area by the sailing club.

There was still plenty of Odonata about -
top is a Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum),
bottom a Western Willow Spreadwing (Chalcolestes viridis).

Me shooting dragonflies from the boardwalk.

I think this is a female Southern Darter (Sympetrum meridionale).

Another boardwalk - I'm guessing the ground
is quite boggy in places in the winter.

The main path, the boardwalk signs with funny looking dragonflies!!, and fungi.

A Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) and some freshwater mussel shells.

His truly.

Another day we went for a walk in the forest of St Aubin du Cormier. A friend had told me about some interesting rock formations - this sort of thing is not common around here where the countryside has only gently rolling hills, but there is a steep mini peak in the middle of the forest and these rocks at the top. They are used as climbing rocks - not much of a climb if that is your sort of thing, but then again, there's not a lot of places like this in the vicinity!

Me again!

I prefer pics of me taking pics of something.

Or distant ones like this!

My friend had also told me about the Maison Forestière, but I was disappointed as it appears to have been modernised, at least on the outside, although looking somewhat tatty. I can find no more information about it so I have no idea if anyone lives in it - I doubt it somehow, though it may be used as a shelter or office for people still looking after the forest. These houses were inhabited by the guardians of the forests in days gone by.

How it once looked....

..... and how it looks now.

K is still going out for his bike rides and I don't know why he gets to see interesting birds which don't seem to be scared off by his bike, yet when we are on foot, or even driving slowly along the lanes, they don't appear to be around. Anyway, on this particular ride he came across a Wheatear as well as a Stonechat! I've only seen two Wheatears in Brittany, one on the north coast and one on the south coast. According to the RSPB Wheatears are migrant birds and overwinter in central Africa, so it must have been about to be off, as these photos were taken on 3rd October. I'm not sure but think this is the male in non breeding plumage.

Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) on the left and Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) on the right.

Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe).
You can click on the photo to view larger.

I've plenty of garden photos to share - I just need to get my non A into G and sort them out! Have a great weekend, whatever you are up to. :-)