A small chill

Just a tiny touch of frost overnight

but enough for a bit of decoration of the surroundings

Warm enough for hermaphroditic sex

After the recent gloom There opened up a crack to let the light get in

For a few brief moments the sun got its foot in the door

Temperatures leaped into double figures

and the worms came out to reproduce

Glimpses of red hope amid darkness and gloom

Recently, life has been very blurred at the edges

colour has gone and the opportunists are gathering

It is the long wavelength Red that can penetrate the confusion

and the more you look, the more you can find:

Orange November

The last few days have been mainly dry

and calm

overcast with a flat light.

But today everything turned orange

Starling rationing

When the Starlings move in for the winter

they think they have sole right to every feeder

seeing off all competition

Here is our latest attempt to give smaller birds a chance

Winter arrives

Yesterday:

Today:

Drought Fears In Mid-Wales

While the place of our former life is underwater

it has not rained here for a whole day

So we have been enjoying some more golden moments

Every Tree Counts

We have at least a dozen young trees on site waiting to be planted out this month and in addition have promised The Woodland Trust to bring three more to Gribin Isaf to plant at the end of the month:

Meanwhile we have one that has to go. Last month we wrote about our Eucalyptus trees. One of the large ones is rotting at the base and leaning on a neighbour for support.

Also it is looming over the site of the future rabbitarium

A tricky corner to fell something of this size so an opportunity to try out our saw-on-a-stick

letting us nibble at it bit

by bit

so it slides down in installments

lots of leaves and sappy stems to cart away

and some useful timber

The stump

is overshadowed by its partner

who will appreciate a bit more freedom and continue to wave its shiny flags

Autumn Juvenile Hedgehog

After an early morning handover in a car park an Autumn Juvenile weighing 360g was quickly settled into her home for the Winter, initially indoors but later in the heated Hoggery.

A bit shy at first:

Runny grey poo was not a good sign, as these little hogs often have a considerable worm burden which can quickly be life threatening. Having been wormed, and given antibiotics prescribed by our helpful vet, she is rapidly putting on weight and especially loving her tinned cat food but also sampling the cat biscuits, hedgehog nuggets and Ark Wildlife muesli (no mealworms!).

Poo is now looking much better:

Hedgehogs cannot safely hibernate under 600g and should be a lot heavier than that so now weighing in at 415g she has bed, breakfast and evening meal, free heating and cleaning services probably until the end of April.

One seemingly happy hoglet:

November Jewels

The darkness is gathering, the cloud is lowering, the water is rising – we rush towards the bottom of the year.

But look closer and all around there are still jewels of brightness…