Winter guests

For a keen cyclist the last few weeks of snow and ice have presented their own challenge - how to find pleasure out of doors without my wheels....so I've taken to walking for as long as the light lasts in the area round my home, usually heading for friends, on the happy assumption they will be both in and delighted to see me.

On my way back from visiting Lady Findhorn (a keen member of the Blipfoto community) my eyes were drawn first to a tree stunningly heavy with bright red berries. I stopped to take a photograph of the redness against the snow, and as I did, I glanced upwards and beyond the redness of the berries to the tall silver birch immediately behind and I spotted this flock of winter visitors...I think they are either fieldfares or redwings... I like the the way this winter tree seems to glow with the company of its visitors, rather like the way entertaining friends in your own home helps it to feel warm too.