Late winter

I was too late to catch the frost this morning - the strengthening sun means that it doesn't last very long now. Despite this, I had a very enjoyable morning walk round the former Westings Meadow at Etton and Maxey, with soft winter colours and reflections on the flooded gravel pits (see extra) and plenty of small birds flitting among the trees and hedges, including this Blue Tit which was busy examining the trunk of an old ash marking the parish boundary, one of the few trees to have survived the gravel extraction process.

Towards the end of my walk I was surprised to see two Chiffchaffs along the South Drain, picking up seeds from the still icy edge of the watercourse. I assume that these are overwintered birds, as I don't usually expect to see any migrants until early to mid-March. Up to 1,000 birds are now thought to spend the whole year in the UK. It’s thought this is due to the country’s warming climate, which means the birds can survive the winter here.