… the bulbs has riz, I wonder what that birdie is?

The sky was brilliantly clear on Sunday – for the second day running – and the temperature eventually climbed to about 5 °C although the ground remained frozen throughout the day.  It was definitely a day to huddle up around the ‘hotpoint’ heating system :

The base is an old tractor half wheel that we found in the wood when we took it over.

It might have only been mid January but all the signs of spring were there to see : bluebells poking their heads through the leaf litter and rosettes of the early purple orchid too.  In the skies above there was a buzzard wheeling low over the canopy with a second raptor which seemed to be harrying it – or is the male much smaller than the female or vice versa and we were watching a courtship?

While we were eating lunch [the ‘hotpoint’ is good for grilling sausages on shish] another raptor flew silently through the wood at about 20 foot : much smaller than the buzzard, more like a kestrel with a hint of red?