Hello everyone
Well, the weather has been unseasonably mild recently. There are still some flowers blooming in the gardens. I saw some roses down near the stream, and we have a few Spring polyanthus in flower already.
However, don’t be fooled—it will probably turn colder soon. When it does so, your garden birds will be needing your help, by feeding and watering them. Once the birds know that you will look after them, they will hang around waiting for you. We have some lovely 
garden birds, whose pretty colours brighten up even the darkest Winter’s day. I think the prettiest are the goldfinches, with their red, black and golden colours. To attract goldfinches, you will need nyger seed, and a special feeder, because nyger seeds are very tiny, and will fall out of a normal feeder. I know this from experience!
There are several bird species around at present. Great tits and blue tits are active on the feeders. We have chaffinches and a few greenfinches. Payhembury has its own flock of Jackdaws, which are playing about in the sky now, some choosing a mate for the coming Spring. Did you know that Jackdaws pair up for life?
I have spotted a few long tailed tits and wrens in our hedge. These are amongst our smallest birds, and many of them perish during the 
Winter. They have devised a way of protecting themselves from the cold by huddling all together in bird nesting boxes or other safe places to keep warmer. Groups of up to twenty have been seen.
When you read these notes, Christmas will have passed, so I wish you all a Very Happy New Year!
