Will Spring ever get sprung?

 My husband retired just over two weeks ago and my routine (such as it was) has disappeared. I seem to spend a lot of time drinking tea with him in the sitting room and taking even more notice of what is happening outside in this really cold weather. In the past week I've seen Mr Fox more times than I have in the 12 years we've lived here. Similarly, Brock the badger, who decimates what passes for grass here, has also made a nightly appearance, usually scoffing up the seedstuffs thrown out of the feeders by the numerous birds and dastardly squirrels. Whilst I see evidence of their visits I've only seen one in the garden before. Now, I can time my watch by him. In between I count the rabbits that are multiplying faster than seems possible and working out ways to decrease their numbers.

The jays  that we've had all winter still come regularly to feed from the leftovers on the ground and we are also lucky enough to have yellowhammers, goldfinches, siskins, coal tits and woodpeckers visit in numbers. The weather has been sunny and dry here in Wales but very, very cold. The wind is biting and it is hard to think it will be April tomorrow. We're only a few weeks away from the return of the swallows. I certainly hope they are bringing their winter coats with them! As for building nests, they will be lucky to find enough water to make mud with. Every morning our bird bath is frozen over but, we thaw it out and it gets plenty of visitors through the day as you can see. I cannot remember the last day it rained. Unheard of here.

This is the first 'light' night after putting the clocks forward yesterday so I doubt we will see badgers from here on. I'd be delighted if I didn't see rabbits and squirrels etc but it's all part and parcel of living in the country isn't it? We are trying a moth trap tonight. So far this year we've had a couple and recorded exactly nothing. No moths at either attempt. I'm not convinced tonight will be any different but we'll see. This time of year we should be seeing the March Moth in huge numbers so it's worrying that we've seen none. The seasons are proving unpredictable but I feel like Spring is almost here. Hope so.

Fossil hunting

After a couple of non descript days the sun shone again yesterday so we decided to head to West Angle Bay so that I could do a bit of fossil hunting! The rock formation down there is amazing but we headed there via Stack Rocks to see if the birds had started to gather for breeding yet. You cannot tell from my photo because, although it was bright, the sun came and went and it was very misty, but the rocks have started to colonise with guillemots and razorbills. In a few short weeks they will be heaving so a return trip is planned - with binoculars! The sea was rough both here and at Freshwater West beach but by the time we got to the shelter of Angle Bay it was much calmer.

I did not find any significant fossils at Angle, probably because I was too distracted by the patterns and colours of everything else around me. We spent a couple of hours messing about in rock pools - at our age!- but it was a fabulous afternoon. Hope everyone else is having a great weekend.