We’ve already had a good day for birds, with a flock of 30 Fieldfares on the fields down Lodge Lane,  a Green Woodpecker on the cherry trees by the centre and  a pair of Robins on the willow archway. You can tell they are a pair because they aren’t trying to kill each other – they really are unpleasantly aggressive birds despite the cute depictions on Christmas cards.

Sorry the picture isn’t more relevant but I don’t have many bird pictures to select from.

It’s the Big Garden Birdwatch on the weekend of 30-31 January, followed by the Big Farmland Bird Count two weeks later. We will be doing both though our garden isn’t very good for birds at the moment – more work needed. We will be making fat balls from lard and paper cups later today, so it’s a start. We must also get the second bird-feeder rigged up to provide more variety. I suspect that’s one of the benefits of the bird counts – not just getting data but reminding people to feed birds.

Thinking of birds naturally leads on to worms – so check these out. It’s just the thing to help get over “Blue Monday” though how anyone could be depressed on a day like today, I’m not sure. I suppose if you don’t have  a job that allows you to see woodpeckers it’s harder to be cheerful.

Of course, when you read that made “Blue Monday” is up by a holiday company without proper evidence things start to fall into place. For me, it’s the first happy day I’ve had since Christmas. I don’t like my routine being disrupted, and I don’t like the short days. Now that I’m back in a routine (or a rut as some people would describe it) and the days are getting significantly lighter I’m happy

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