Mole...

...when the thaw came, it became apparent that, under cover of snow, we had been joined by a new inhabitant in the garden - a mole! That first molehill has now been joined by several more. Negatives - the poor lawn has already suffered this winter - before the snow there was a layer of wet leaves. And molehills are not pretty. Positives - I am not a houseproud (gardenproud?) gardener, and anyway moleheaps consist of lovely friable soil which can go on the raised beds. And moles have to live somewhere!

The wildlife is doing well - the squirrel is an occasional visitor, but generally the bird clientele is expanding - as well as the gorgeous pair of collared doves, and the two nuthatches whose visits give me so much pleasure, we now have a pair of loved-up woodpigeons. Also, a pair of robins, ditto blackbirds, and (to my great delight) a beautiful male bullfinch, who occasionally brings his dowdy olive-coloured mate along too. There is a proliferation of tits of various sorts (blue, great and coal) and most days a marauding troupe of long-tailed tits, like miniature animated feather dusters with mohican haircuts! Lots of sparrows, too, which is good as they are getting scarce, and some dunnocks and chaffinches. Every couple of days there is a single goldfinch, but despite the supply of nyger seed he hasn't brought any friends yet. I live in hopes of lots of baby birds in the spring, although I worry about the presence of magpies and jackdaws. I need to enthuse Matthew about fixing a nest box to the eaves for the benefit of the sparrows!