From My Window

Earlier in the week, while I was out for a walk, I managed to step into a hole and hurt my back. I've done it before and know that the cure is to keep moving but keep warm. So what could be better than staying indoors and getting up every few minutes to watch the wildlife through my porch window.

Most of these will be very familiar to people from the UK but maybe not so well-known to those from further afield. I probably don't need to tell anyone that the first photo is of a Robin. Their old name used to be Redbreast, but at some time in the past it became popular to give some birds human names - Robin Redbreast, Jenny Wren and Tom Tit, for example. Now we think of the proper name as Robin, while Robin Redbreast is something for children's books.

Here's another - Jack-Daw. Yes, these small crows used to be called just plain Daws till some playful person added Jack to their name. They've been Jackdaws ever since.

I recently hung up a feeder on my shed for a few weeks. It was not the most successful experiment; this Great Tit was the only visitor I had.

The pigeon family are not universally popular, though the Stock Dove generally escapes too much criticism, indeed most people don't even know that such a bird exists. They are a little smaller than the Wood Pigeons that can devastate farmers' crops and used to delight in uprooting my cabbage plants as soon as I'd planted them in my mother's garden. And they're a bit bigger than the Collared Doves that make such a mess if you have bird feeders.

Blackbirds already think it's Spring and some of them can be heard singing in the mornings and superb singers they are, though we're so used to them that they're not as much appreciated as the Nightingale or the Blackcap for example. But this morning it didn't look so Spring-like....

This Grey Squirrel sought shelter behind a tree as we had the first snowfall of the year in this part of England - it may even be the first snow this little creature has ever seen.

This male Chaffinch wasn't much impressed either as he searched the ground under the bird feeders for any fallen seeds.

A gang of Starlings suddenly descended and grabbed everything they could, scaring away some of the smaller birds. This one has a leg ring but I couldn't get a shot where I could make out the number.

Up in the tree there was a Great Spotted Woodpecker. It's one of those birds that's not as big as its name suggests or most people imagine - only a fraction bigger than a Starling.

This little Muntjac deer passed by in the field just beyond where we've been looking at the birds. They are quite numerous around here and I often hear them "barking" at night.

As I look out of the window now the snow has just about disappeared - it might well be the last we see in this mildest, but wettest, of winters.


Take care.