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.

Rhubarb & sprouts

This morning was lovely and sunny with no wind. After the last few days of near-gales it was lovely to be able to go up the garden and see what's going on. It was still very cold with the grass crunchy with frost and leaves edged with white.

The bulbs are starting to come up big-time and the lilacs and magnolia stellata have healthy-looking buds. Rhubarb is about 8 ins high. I may cover this tonight to protect from any heavier frost. They are from Siberia so are fairly robust and can stand a little cold. Maybe some rhubarb fool next weekend! I don't force rhubarb. I don't really see the point. It comes up beautifully pink and usually we are picking some by early February. We have 8 plants, 5 of an early variety and 3 ones that come up later on.

Warm New Year

A New Year and a whole new weather pattern to come to terms with! Every year we've been at Froggarts we've had different weather. Last January was sooo cold. This year, despite the strong wind over the last couple of days, it's relatively balmy. The helibores are already in flower. Blackbirds are singing and a great tit has started building a nest in the boxes under the summer house roof.