Christine's walking & birds blog

I ventured into the garden this morning to do some tidying up. I have not yet seen a single ladybird. They are either extremely late emerging from hibernation, or they have died during the winter. There is a general lack of invertebrate life in the garden for the time of year, apart from the gnats and midges.

Driving down through the village this morning, I was surprised by a largish pale bird swooping up the road towards me, just above car roof height. It was a mistle thrush, one of a pair. One was in the horse field behind the pub a few days ago.


Sometimes both birds swoop down onto the estate from the trees towering over our house, so presumably they're nesting in the village again this year. Naturally they were nowhere to be seen on the day of the great RSPB garden birdwatch, although they were around at that time.