The delights of disruption

Last Friday morning we woke to the perfection of an untouched blanket of snow.  The kids were still sleeping and before checking websites I knew that school would be closed.  Exceptionally heavy snowfall can cause chaos on the roads, close schools and generally disrupt our everyday lives.  In other parts of the world hurricanes and floods can instantly devastate whole areas and cause massive loss of life.  Drought withers crops, kills cattle and people eventually starve to death.  Tinder dry vegetation fuels the wildfires that tear across landscapes eating everything in its path, including human lives.  So, although I’m not a huge fan of snow, it’s not the end of the world.

Despite its colour, I believe that a single snowflake contains more e numbers than a tube of smarties.  Within 10 minutes of waking up the kids had disappeared through the back door leaving a trail of rice crispies and pyjamas behind them.  I was up for the ‘the snow will still be there when you have taken your cereal bowls to the sink and picked your pyjamas up’ lecture but, like Mark said, we don’t get this amount of snow that often and it’s a big thing for them.

The snow was still falling and the birds were already struggling.  I had been out first thing to replenish the feeders and I had bought some dried meal worms for the ground feeding birds.  As well as our daily visitors, we had some first timers.  A Greenfinch, a Coal Tit, a Siskin, a Nuthatch and a Redpoll.  The Redpoll was beautiful with a stripy brown body, red forehead, tiny black bib, pale double wing bar and dark-streaked rump.  During the breeding season the males would have a red flush on their breasts distinguishing them from the females.  It appeared confused as it flew rapidly between the feeders, eventually settling for nyjer seed.  I wondered where they had been until now and if they would return once the snow has melted. 

It was unusual to see three robins feeding in the same garden.  Robins are very territorial and I wondered if this was safety in numbers or energy preservation.  There is no good having a good feed to spend all of your energy on one scrap.  I also wondered if the territory will still belong to the same Robin once conditions are more favourable or if he will have to fight for it again.

That night, having drank too much wine and eaten too many kettle chips (that’s 2 new years resolutions down the pan), I went to bed hoping that we would at least be able to make it to Abergavenny in the morning.

The main roads were clear but the lanes were treacherous.  My uncle, who lives just down the road, had already planted his 4x4 into the hedge so it wasn’t worth the risk.  We decided to walk to Raglan.  A 6 mile round trip but we had all day.  The kids weren’t keen but the promise that they could take the miniature hot water bottles that Uncle Dan had bought them was all the persuasion they needed. 

We turned right out of our driveway and followed the lane through Great Oak picking up the main road at Bryngwyn.  We were keen to spot a buzzard.  Bernard the Buzzard is seen every day in the field behind our house…sometimes he even sits on our fence post.  He is a magnificent bird with quite pale plumage that makes me think he is probably a juvenile.  We haven’t seen him since Thursday and even then his attempts at making a kill were pathetic.  “Look Mummy, up there”, said Carys.  I looked carefully.  It was larger than a Buzzard, more graceful too with a long forked tail.  We knew that a pair of Red Kites nested not far from our house last year but we had never been lucky enough to see one….maybe he too had to go further afield in search of food.  We concluded that Bernard has strayed from his patch in search of food and that he will be back soon….fingers crossed.  “It was worth walking this far just to see that”, said Carys.  “Really Carys”, said Jamie, “I want at least a magazine and some sweets at the end of this”.

We got what we needed in Raglan, mainly more wine but felt that a magazine and a packet of sweets wasn’t out of the way….it was a long walk and even I was beginning to question what we were doing.  We walked back along the main road stopping at the garden centre for a hot drink.  Before setting off we had a quick look around the shop, stopping at the wood burning stoves for quite some time!

As we turned off the main road onto huntsman’s lane Jamie said “Look by the Jay by Mum”.  The Jay by is a little lay by/pull in.  We call it the Jay by because back in the autumn we would often see a Jay scratching about beneath the hedge.  Back then he was hiding acorns, now he was trying to recover them.

As we opened the front door, both the heat and the aroma of slow cooked lamb were welcoming.  I asked the kids what they enjoyed most about our walk.  Carys was pleased to have seen the Red Kite, Jamie thought it was cool that the Jay can remember where it hid the acorns almost 6 months ago and Mark chipped in with “at least we got more wine”.

First thing Sunday morning and what a change.  Friday’s untouched blanket of snow has given way to a brown, slushy, icy and dangerous mess.  So, I thank the snow for the delights that accompanied the disruptions but, quite frankly, the sooner it melts the better.

There are no photos due to a child/camera related incident.