Clear blue skies and goldfinches

What a marvellous day today - crisp and frosty to start with, then warming gently throughout the day but still with a nip in the air. I managed to find some 'space' today when I squeezed in a short lunchtime bike ride. A shame my time was limited as I'd have loved to have gone further. With the weather improving and the evenings becoming lighter, it will soon be time to get out in the garden and do the tidying that we never did in December because of the snow. I still have loads of twiggy dead-heads to remove but thought I'd take a quick picture of the one below before I did. We're not sure what this plant is, other than it's a bit like a cross between a teazel and a doc leaf, with yellow flowers. The birds love the seeds in the autumn/winter, and groups of ladybirds seem to hibernate amongst the seed heads in the winter.

Having spotted some Goldfinches in a neighbour's garden I am determined to get some in mine. My plan of attack is to place as additional bird feeder in the front garden, near the Buddlleia to give the birds some cover as they flit to and from the feeder, as I think the feeders in the back garden are too exposed ... watch this space.

Snowdrops and punctures

The newly purchased bird food has had some success. A pair of Robins are now frequent visitors, along with Blue Tits, Coal Tits and Long Tailed Tits. The nyger seed however does not seem to have attracted any newcomers whatsoever. The special nyger seed dispenser is quite shiny and catches the light as it blows in the wind, which I'm wondering if it's scaring the birds?

The weather is none too inspiring at the moment but I have managed to force myself to leave the house and get some exercise. Did a great 5 mile walk yesterday after work, and a 12 mile bike ride today. Bike ride was great, even with a puncture, which fortunately I had close enough to home so as not to have to mend it on the roadside. There was plenty of wildlife about during the ride, but of course none of it sat around long enough for a panting cyclist to dismount and get the camera out. However, these snowdrops were not going to get up and run off, so I made myself content with these instead.

Snowdrops on the roadside

Since my last post I have managed to pick up even more CDs inspired by Rob Young's 'Electric Eden' book, including 5000 Spirits by The Incredible String Band, which is a current favourite on the iPod. I'm hoping to be able to track down a few more next week and once again I'm working up in London for 2-3 days.

Being the world's slowest reader, I am struggling to conquer my book mountain. I am still reading 'News From Nowhere' by William Morris, along side 'Electric Eden'. Even reading on the early train into London has become a struggle and I am dozing off more frequently than usual.

Big Garden Birdwatch

It's that time of year again and I'm very much looking forward to this weekend's Big Garden Birdwatch. The kids are now at an age where they can resist running around shouting (although sometimes even at 15 this proves a challenge sometimes). However the biggest challenge for me is to keep the cats inside so they don't scare off the birds.I've printed off the scoresheet so am all ready to go ...

We usually get our fair share of Robins, Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Blackbirds, the occasional Woodpecker and loads of pigeons (the cats can chase off the latter as far as I'm concerned). As well as making sure my feeder was full and cleaned out of all the old mouldy bits, I've also splashed out on some new treats ... let's see what tomorrow brings.

Finally the birds came

After my initial disappointment at, having cleaned and re-fitted the feeds, I can now happily report that the birds have come. Below are a Blue Tit on the fat balls and young Great Tit on the seed cake. I've also spotted a couple of Robins and 4 Long Tailed Tits.

Admittedly not quite Springwatch quality, but I was indoors with a fairly basic camera.

Getting back to the garden

During a recent weekend visit to Wimpole House, we stopped off at the National Trust shop and picked up a couple of books. One is a coffee table bird identification book, the other is Chris Packahm's "Nature Handbook". The kids have yet to pick up either of these books and despite my best intentions to guide them away from their electronic toys I'm losing the battle (having said that they are all at least out doing sport this morning). I've thumbed through both books and the first thing that caught my eye was the commentary about cleanliness and location of bird feeders. After taking a quick look at my feeder I decided it was time for a pre-Spring clean. I scooped away all the remnants of the Christmas stuffing which the birds had not eaten, completely replaced the mould-ridden nuts, and topped up the seeds. What birds could not be attracted by these tempting treats ...

... all of them it would seem at the moment! Hopefully I'll be able to report back with better news later.

In Search of Space - a new blog by dakotaboo

I have been wrestling with the idea of creating a new blog for some months now. I already have 3 reasonably active blogs which cover my interests in music, vintage postcards and vintage books and magazines, but none of these really seem to serve the purpose of my more random/spontaneous/mundane/ordinary (delete as appropriate) musings. So, what you can expect to see in this blog are thoughts and observations based on the other aspects of my life such as mountain biking, travelling, exploring, walking, and general day-to-day life. I've decided to start the blog in a fairly 'raw' state, and add the bells and whistles in later, otherwise I wouldn't be able to lauch it on the first day of the New Year.

I've called it 'In Search of Space' as it fits nicely into my current state of mind. That's not to say I want to get away from everything, I'm treating 'space' here as anywhere new, whether it be a genuine space out in the countryside, or a new part of London that I've only just discovered. Also, it's the name of a pretty darned fine record by Hawkwind.

The New Year has started well with friends over last night to see in the New Year with us. I did catch a few people drinking tea prior to midnight but am finding myself inclining towards that as well these days ... in fact I think that with the various bottles people brought with them we possibly ended up with more alcohol than we started the evening with. We had Jools Holland on the TV to make sure we didn't miss the countdown and I was really pleased to have caught Toot singing 'Monkey Man'. I'd only ever heard the version that the Specials did in the late 1970's so this was a real treat and has now made it on to my ever lengthening wants list.

I managed my first mountain bike ride of the New Year today with an 18 miler over to Kingsclere and back, mainly on the roads as opposed to deeply muddy tracks, but I did manage to cover some new territory, which fits in with my unofficial New Year's resolution - to do something different every day, whether that be as exciting as visiting a new place, or something more sedate like hearing a new song or reading. Also it was really good to see plenty of people out and about ... quite often when I'm out on my bike I'm amazed at how few people I see. I also managed to spot some wildlife ... Red Kites, Buzzards, a lone Kestrel, and various smaller birds too far away to identify.

So that's it for my first blog entry, in this blog anyway. I'm off to watch a couple of episodes of the Goodies that we recorded over the last week or so. I have very fond memories of it as a kid so am hoping it still hits the spot. I wonder what the kids will make of it though, they only know Bill Oddie from Springwatch and the Jeremy Clarkson's Bill Odie speed camera mask on Top Gear.