Snow drifts and badger tracks at the summerhouse
The first time I saw the seas freeze is when I met my mother-in-law (though we have both seen something of a thaw since then). But now the bay at the back of the ‘summerhouse’ is largely frozen over and the solstice snow is still 10cm thick after more than six weeks.
With nightime temperatures of minus 15 degrees C, and daytime struggling to get much over minus five, there is nothing to do in the garden except marvel at the scale and variety of animal tracks. The deer and hare are easy to spot, but the badger was more of a surprise.
We’ve wrapped the base of the fruit trees to discourage animals from biting off the bark, so contented ourselves with hanging bird-balls on thin branches and watching the small birds enjoy their new source of food. Marveled, too, at the ingenuity of a jay who bounced up and down like on a bungee jump in its attempt to dislodge some seed.
But the real revelation was the frozen sea and the crystalised ice looking for all the world like jewels, or a petrified sculpture park scattered along the coast.
So, too much snow for the snowdrops. Hope to see some soon when I return to borrow a log splitter from the tree surgeon: it is getting hard to keep up with chopping wood for the stove.
Hope all well in your thawing gardens? Any sign of emerging bulbs, broad beans, onion, garlic, where you are?
