Spring 29th April 2016

This morning we had the worst spring blizzard in more than fifty years. Several inches of snow fell, with drifting in the hills, and even at noon the temperature was still below 3°C. It will be a disaster for all the wading birds that breed in the Pennine hills with only the Dunlin not yet incubating eggs.

The bonus in the garden is that all those birds featured in last weeks blog were still present but this time in more arctic conditions. The highlight being a male Redpoll with superb crimson plumage.

The abiding memory of this mornings blizzard was watching two Swallows as they struggled to fly into the driving falling snow – did they survive? click here