The Exotic and the Simple

This morning we participated in the RSPB's Big Garden Bird Watch by recording  the  birds which visited our garden, over the course of an hour. It is permissible to entice them in  with goodies . We supplied water, breadcrumbs,sunflower seeds and fat balls ( everyone  loves a fat ball don't they ?!).  We saw  thirteen species (two more than  last year) and counted 29 birds compared to 21 last year, and 31 in 2021.
Two  years ago, we recorded  no House Sparrows, last year 6 birds, and  today 10 individuals, which  I am sure we can attribute to us putting two "swift boxes " under the eaves of our house, four years ago, which  the Sparrows now happily occupy, because no swifts have found  them.

 Then we visited our local garden centre to purchase  some seed compost and trays. I decided not to do any actual seed sowing as it  was too cold (Note to self- put a potting bench in the greenhouse)  but instead tidied up the  garden, removing old/dead leaves to reveal the Hellebore and Snowdrop flowers struggling to come through. My main blip is of Lady Beatrix Stanley  who I bought at Welford  Park last year.

This evening, we attended the  Centenary Concert of the  Winchester City Festival Choir in which two of our friends sing. It was held in the hall at the local girls'private school, which has excellent acoustics. The main work was Haydn's "The Creation", which was preceded  by the  world premiere of Oliver  Tarney's "O Lord, Our Lord", We thoroughly  enjoyed the choral singing, the  soloists and orchestra. I especially like the words in The Creation where the appearance of various exotic  animals are described, followed by "In long dimension creeps, with sinuous trace, the worm".
My extra is of one of the exotic flower  arrangements decorating the hall in celebration of the hundred years' existence of the Festival Choir.