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All cosy now…

My Gunnera finally has its cosy duvet on to protect it over the winter… all ready for the expected drop in temp overnight. I am also thrilled to report that we have a Blue tit rooster cosy and tucked up in our nestbox that has a camera in it too 😀

The series of photos below show the stages of the winter protection layers. Tonight I was gardening in the dark with the help of outside lighting and my torch which I used to walk around the garden looking for dry material (fern and grasses) to use as layers for this year’s Gunnera duvet…

The photo below was taken this evening at 10pm from inside our Camera Nestbox… with the aid of a torch. I was thrilled to spot a visit early last Friday evening (around 3:45pm) which looked like it could be the first visit this blue tit had made to our nestbox. You can see this visit in the video below.

It’s brilliant to see our Nestbox occupied again. I love to think that a bird can be cosy in there over the cold winter nights to come. It does make me smile when I look in and see it. I’m thrilled we can help it 😀 I wonder how cold it will get tonight… it was 1.5 deg C at 4.30pm! When I was out gardening tonight I could feel the crisp crunch underfoot as I walked across my lawn. The grass was sparkling when I went indoors at 9pm. Yep… its time for the heating on in the morning for sure 😀 All photos above were taken in my garden on November 30th 2009. The video above was taken from our camera Nestbox on November 27th 2009.

6 thoughts on “All cosy now…

  1. The first real frost today, and as I walked to the bus stop the ground was sparkling… Very fitting for December I thought!

    I should've set off to work later and captured some frosty photos in the lovely wintery sunrise.

    Your Gunnera and Blue tit certainly look cosy in their beds… Mmmmm bed… I wish I was in mine right now!

  2. Just in time with the duvet looking at today's temperatures. 0.5C here this morning and a thin layer of ice on the pond.I have a tree fern in a smallish tub that I trundle into the greenhouse over winter and wrap in fleece.

    Great to see your nest box in use. I haven't spotted any activity in mine as yet.

  3. Brrrr There is thick frost here this morning. Your gunnera looks mighty cozy there under its duvet. I hope you have a whole flock of Blue Tits cuddle up in the nest box. Sometimes when it gets very cold here several Bluebirds will squish into a nestbox for warmth.

  4. What a night to have a cosy duvet around your roots – it was minus 7 in my garden this morning. My Olive tree will not be happy – its got no duvet. Glad the little Blue Tit found a nice little home in your nest box.

  5. Hi there Liz, John, Lisa, Leavesn and Denise 🙂

    Liz, yes it certainly was, by the end of the evening we had our first flutter of slushy snow too. Yep I always forget to go out with the camera early after frost. LOL… it’s almost the weekend 😉

    John, yep, a chilly start here on the first with minus 5 deg C at 6am here. Glad, I was still under my duvet then! Ah the tree fern trundle. I had one out in my garden for a few years and protected in situ with hay in the crown and fleece around it wrapped as a mummy. However, one year I tried an experiment to see if I could harden it up a bit with the intention of only covering it on an extreme night of cold. That ended up being our worst winter for cold for a few years and I lost a number of plants… including my tree fern 🙁 Enjoy yours! Yes, it is great to see the nestbox in use… I wondered how yours was getting on. Sometimes I’ve had roosters arriving in January. Later roosters may give a better chance of your box being used for nesting 😀

    Lisa, its fascinating to think that across the many miles our gardens have had the same weather. Yep, a little late in covering it and the leaves had started to rot so didn’t have so many I could use hence the cutting down of a couple of miscanthus grasses that I would have left over winter. It would be fun to see lots of blue tits sharing but they don’t like to! They always fight off intruders. Very occasionally a pair will roost together but not at this time of year. Now… here the wrens will roost together en masse and to have them use my camera nestbox for this would be an amazing opportunity to see them. Your bluebirds definitely have the right idea 😀

    Leavesn, LOL… it certainly was! Now… your minus 7 had me curious to see which part of the UK you were in when it was minus 5 in my garden that morning. A very enjoyable search this was… I see you too are in Perthshire and clearly North of my location. I thoroughly enjoyed your garden video not only for the images but for your presentation style too… very creative. It is great to see how a garden changes over the years especially one that has children growing up in it. A very nice garden and blog. I’ll be back for future visits 😀

    Denise, LOL… a speech bubble could have read “Just where is Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen when you need him?”

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