OLD FLAMES, NEW SNOW

The bonfire is ready primed with buddleia prunings, scrumpled up Westmorland Gazette and a dash of white spirit. I check the breeze and it is from the east so smoke will go up the back field and not annoy any neighbours.
A match is applied and woof!
The wind immediately turns north east and thick white smoke heads next door. 😁
Sigh!!

And whe the fire has burned down I gather the ash and scatter it on the black and red currants, a good dose of potash. I will also scatter it on the veg beds as a lime substitute and put some on the compost heap.

I pondered the burning of the bonfire and global warming etc but really my small bonfire's contribution to the problem is infinitesimal - and anyway the trees and other growing plants in the garden will more than take up the gases in the smoke.


So it burned all day and was still smoking at bedtime, just need to get out the wheelbarrow now. 

Which, next day, I have done, mixing the ash with soil from the mole hills in the far lawn and top dressing the raspberries.

Already I have begun a new bonfire heap next to the old one with pruning and stuff. In time another fire will be needed - before the blackbirds think of nesting in it.
 

The cold weather has meant the snowdrops have kept on and on flowering though one or two tender plants have succumbed and turned their roots up.

On plant that grows a lot in the garden is ivy, on walls on trees and on the ground. The berries though, at this time of year, provide feed for birds and the leaves give them cover.

Up in the wood the heap of sticks is getting too big even though it would provide cover for hedgehogs (if we had any) and birds. I think in the early autumn it might need to be reduced somewhat and added to the bonfire.

Then there is the other side of the weather - this is a dirty day over the bay to Heysham and its nuclear power station from our bedroom window.

The Beast from the East is here, a present from Siberia, temperatures sub zero and snow flurries at regular intervals.

I went out and braved the gale force wind to look for footprints in the snow - and found many birds, two squirrels and a cat, Oh! and my own.
Everything else was keeping as warm as possible.

I have put out footballs for the first time and note the goldfinches are at the Nyger seed.

When the sun comes out it is a pristine and beautiful sight.