nearly turned the heating off this week, good job I didnât !
are you related to my Gran ??? or just crazy ??? keep away from the âoffâ switchâŚ
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My wife would say something similar 
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Saw our first rouge queue this morning, glad to see theyâre back. No photo, as was enjoying watching it so didnât reach for phone.
We generally have two pairs nesting in the eaves of the house each year. So far, havenât disappointed, 2 pairs again this year, making their nests, flitting around, telling us off for being in the garden !
Even whiter now, still snowing ! Oddly enough, this is probably the first real snow this year ! I feel sorry for the hoopoe :-/
Try being married to an Afrikaaner from sub-tropical Natal, Iâve been wearing shorts for the past couple of weeks whilst, despite logburner and heat pumps, OH is walking around the house with a woollen blanket wrapped around her (like somone from Lesotho, but at least sheâs not wearing one of their hatsâŚ)
Meanwhile outside, our rock martins have arrived and are performing their usual graceful aerobatics.
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A Hoopah bird - how lovely. We have one where I live in Vendee and he lives in a little copse near me.
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The hoopoe was back this morning, woke us up with its song. Definitely heat related as it has warmed up again to nearly 20deg since the snow last Sunday.
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This will be the 2nd year in a row where no red squirrels have been seen in the garden.
Assuming that they have died or their dreys have been destroyed through fallen trees over the winter 
We have a pair that live in an overgrown hazel nut tree.
Last autumn there was a massive crop of nuts.
Hoping to see some babies before long.
@RicePudding
Oh how sad 
here they are quite often visible in my garden doing acrobatics along cables or sitting in the fruit trees or digging, they have planted a lot of walnuts over the years! I donât know where their dreys are, I suspect in the oak woodland around my neighboursâ house. Thereâs an enormous lime tree outside my kitchen door, they love to rush around in it and plant things underneath.
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I believe this is some kind of thrush. Itâs so long since Iâve seen one, here or UK that I see spots on cream and buff and call that a thrush.
I was attracted to look out of the window because all of a sudden there was birdsong going on that made the resident blackbird sound rather Am Dram, compared to Dame Kiri.
It next appeared on the ridge of my over-the-lane neighbourâs roof, only about 15m away. As I raised the camera to my eye, it flew off and I have not seen or heard it since.
Enormous magnification for i.d.
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If you have a smart phone, download the Birdnet app, point your phone in the direction of the birdsong and birdnet will tell you what the bird is.
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Looks like a Mistle Thrush to me.
âŚand I havenât seen one since. Not heard one either. We did hear Nightjars a month ago. They have a very distinctive call that OH recorded to enable us to identify it.
By the streak markings and the brown back⌠I would say Song Thrush⌠which (as the name suggests) has a lovely song.
The Mistle Thrush is more speckled and has a grey back (also a lovely song).
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I hope it comes back so that I can give that a try and get more pictures but after two appearances on the top of that pine and one on the roof opposite, itâs done a flit.
Mistle thrush Darker. Stands taller
Song thrush
So - song thrush it is.
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We get hoopoes, in very small numbers, every year. Gorgeous birds, really exotic. We probably get fewer now than say 5 years ago though. Well we see fewer, we still hear them around and about.
Our most exciting (for me anyway) rare visitor is the golden oriole. My, itâs a beauty! And I love their song. Again, you hear them more than you see them, as they tend to stay hidden camouflaged high in leafy trees.
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