Parrots, Kites and an Arctic blast!

Lin and I headed south for the weekend for our first major Rock and Mineral Show of the year, at Kempton Park in Surrey. As always a great venue and we had a surprisingly good weekend's trading.

On the way to the show on Saturday morning, we passed the Parakeet roost at Slough and the trees by the side of the M4 near ASDA were dripping with birds waking up and milling around over the motorway. On our return to Maidenhead at around 5.30, the roost was building up again: a terrific sight for a Norfolk birder!

Needless to say, Red Kites were super-abundant, including this individual who all but landed on Mum-in-Law's roof!

As we drove home last night, snow was beginning to fall, so it was not a surprise to find a reasonable carpet of the white stuff in our garden. As I write this (8.20 am) the snow is falling heavily: the birds are flocking into the garden to take advantage of the food they know they can expect here....