Robin at Clumber, Nottinghamshire

Sorry, I really did mean to become more regular, and to get round and wish everyone the compliments of the season before it happened. As usual, me and my good intentions didn’t quite gel. So I hope you all had a good Christmas, and go on to have a great New Year.

I just noticed that my last post was my 3,500th. As you know, this has no real significance, but I always like to see a round number.  3,500 is so much better than 3,499, and also better than 3,501, despite being a smaller number. It’s a minor achievement on my way through life, so I won’t mention it again. Other people have written more. Some people have posted fewer times and managed a much higher quality. Some are much more regular and disciplined. That’s life. We’re all different. Some of us, for instance, take childish pleasure in round numbers.

The reason I used bird photos yesterday, as you probably guessed, was because we have started feeding the birds in the new garden. So far it has been a bit quiet, but it is showing signs of building up.

So far (this is now the fifth day) we have had blue tits, robins, great tits, long-tailed tits, dunnock, blackbird and pigeon. The pigeon can’t work out how to get at the food. We have also had magpies, but they haven’t yet attempted to feed.

Robin at Arnot Hill Park

It will take a while for the visits to build up, then I will start complaining about the amount they eat. At the moment the weather is mild, there seems to be plenty of food about and I imagine that most people round here have feeders so there won’t be a shortage of bird food.

The robins met whilst hopping along the back wall. One started posturing. The other, which I believe is the current owner of the territory, puffed up to double in size and the interloper flew off. You see all sorts of things when you are washing up.

We had frozen vegetarian nut roast for Christmas dinner, as my sister came round. It’s easier for us to become temporary vegetarians than it is to force-feed her meat. I prepared red cabbage with apple and onion and Christmas spices the day before then did potatoes. carrots, parsnips, sprouts and leeks on the day, using a list of timings as a guide. The potatoes, which I did properly (par boiled, knock the edges about, hot oil etc) turned out well. The gravy, which came with the nut roast, was not so good. The sachets, which I heated up with the carrots, both split and released the gravy. Fortunately we were able to make an alternative vegetarian gravy.

Then, twenty minutes after the meal was over, it struck me. I had forgotten to reheat the red cabbage. Senior moment alert . . .

Robin, Arnot Hill Park