Thursday 14th.January 2010

There have been some miserable days recently , but I think today takes the biscuit . Woke up to steady rain , which admittedly helped to melt the lying snow , but it continued until lunchtime , and was joined by a murky haze , which built into mist , which this afternoon , turned into fog .
Needless to say , I didn't go out in those elements , but did record a couple of bits of wildlife around the garden .
Three gardens along , the local pair of Magpies have decided it's time to renovate last year's nest , and start thinking about this year's broods . It was interesting to see that one bird , I assume the female , was doing all the work , straightening out the floor and rebuilding the roof , whilst the other seemed to spend his time off feeding , and coming back at regular intervals , to make sure she was doing it properly . The female can be just made out in the main body of the nest . Carol tells me that the Carrion Crows were doing similar to their old nest , high in one of the Lime trees in the street , whilst it was snowing last week .
Carol also found the second interest , when she went to get something from the shed . As she moved the trug which has been in place since the end of gardening last year , she noticed something on it . I went down to have a look , and it turned out to be a hibernating Peacock butterfly , our first record of the new season . A couple of quick shots , and the trug was replaced and the door closed , with the hope that it will make it through to Spring .