For the south east of England, last winter's snowfall was much heavier and deeper than usual and we didn't think our 'left-overs' were sufficient to sustain the local bird population and, some might recall, we invested in some extra provisions for them (below - left).........
This winter, however, although it has been significantly earlier than usual (it's rare to experience these conditions before Christmas in the UK), the snowfall has been just as heavy and we decided to make things easier for the birds by requisitioning our parrot's climbing frame (above - right).
Last April, following last winter's experiences, we discovered that our attempts to feed the birds had attracted the attention of local badgers and, since then, they seem to have added us to their nightly patrol around the area and they visit us every night - much to the delight of the agricultural merchant from whom we continue to buy the previously mentioned seed products.
Badgers travel so low to the ground that they burrow through deep snow - and evidence that they continue to visit us during these severe weather conditions can be seen by their tracks (above) and, although I'm sure there may be some who might find it difficult to believe, on the night we had put out the climbing frame, we were surprised to hear one of them knocking on our back door.
So far as we can make out, the reason for this is that they couldn't reach the food in the climbing frame. So, since then, we've put their food on a separate tray outside our back door (see above) which, to some extent, is sheltered from the snow by the outside staircase.
Happily, we've had no complaints since.
