GARDENING AND WEATHER

So, we are just getting used to driving around in the BMW again when we are told the snow and cold is coming back. Next year it is winter tyres or a better vehicle - though if I do change things we will probably have the mildest winter on record!

It is still very frosty at night as you can see from the enhanced detail it gives to shapes in the garden.

The top one is a teasel - in monochrome - the second one is a Cardoon.

The parsnips are still locked into the soil and will have to fend for themselves.

Bird feeding continues in a big way - I am trying a tip from Helen Yemm in the paper - she suggests adding a little oil to porridge flakes and putting that out for the ground feeders. The oil is to stop the stuff blowing away.

Apart from one dunnock the meal seems to have been largely ignored. Perhaps it is an acquired taste - a bit like olives and sprouts when you are young.

The halved apples are loved by the blackbirds and thrushes. I find that if I cut the apple into three pieces - two ends and a middle - then they can have the ends and I can enjoy the middle.