Fox and Frost

Last night the security light came on and I looked out the back window. A very fine-looking fox was boldly staring back at me. A beautiful, well-fed creature. He trotted round the bird-table and picked at some bits then looked back at us and trotted off through the hole in the hedge into to the field. I usually put out any kitchen scraps for the birds and any interested wildlife. There's never anything left in the morning so I hope that even though I don't get to see them very often that some animals, birds, slugs whatever are getting an extra boost. I'm really concerned about lack of hedgehogs. I've not seen one here for 4 years.

It's been very cold for the last 5 days. The nights have been minus 6 degrees C and although the days are sunny the frost has only melted where the sun has been shining for a couple of hours. We are on a south-west slope which means we don't get sun-up until quite late and the sun dips behind the trees quite early on.
The rhubarb - which I covered with fleece at the beginning of the cold spell - has suffered. I'm sure it will recover as soon as it turns warmer, promised for Wednesday / Thursday.

More worryingly the camellias are frozen solid. Last year's minus 20 temperatures killed off one and took out all the buds on the remaining 3. They are supposed to cope with a certain amount of frost. A neighbour's tree has flowers already.