FOXY BUSINESS

One good thing to come from all this snow is the discovery of a fox living in style under our big barn. After the first heavy snowfall we noticed this strange set of prints coming from the lane and down our drive, skirting around the edge of the courtyard then over the wall into the farmyard. We could then follow them around the barn to a foxhole dug under the floor in the wood store. It is probably the same one who killed the geese last year!. Talk about 'sly'....living rent free with ready made meals to hand!! Anyway, the hens and the geese are now kept in their compounds at night so 'Foxy Roxy' can't get to them. This is presumably why she/he found it necessary to go down the lane to look for sustinance. Don't quite know what to do about it at the moment. Zoe would never forgive us if we exterminated it. (She's already horrified that we now have 2 freezers full of pork/bacon)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

After all that hectic preparation, Christmas came & went in a nano second...or am I just getting too old? Still, it was nice to have the family all home for Christmas. Total 'whiteout' today, hasn't stopped snowing since the early hours and I've a really bad dose of the flu so, feeling really sorry for myself!
It will be a shame to take the fairy lights down from the trees as everyone has remarked how lovely they have looked. 'A Winter Wonderland' was how one guest described it.
We have a beautiful Jay visiting the back garden on a regular basis now. Its colours are just lovely and it looks huge next to the robins!. Alan has erected loads more bird boxes around the site so, hopefully, they will become 'home' to the many species we have around here. 'Ossie' the owl made a rare appearance yesterday, we don't usually see much of him this time of year!