Tree

There was quite a substantial fall of trees in the strong winds that hit us a month or so back, and, as I travel around, the shattered or fallen trunks and the gaps in the hedgerows are still very visible. Somewhat to my surprise, very little damage was done to the trees in the little wood behind us, though. Perhaps this was because they are sheltered and protected from the full force of a south-westerly storm, by the natural topography and by the houses along the street, including our own.

My favourite of the trees behind us is a tall and well-ivied oak, which is of course teeming with life. Our oak trees probably support more life forms per square inch (or whatever measurement) than any other. Most of these creatures can't be seen from our patio, but the birds (and the squirrels) are very visible indeed just now, and I love to watch them: wood pigeons crashing about the canopy in an abandoned fashion; the running battle at one point in the winter between (or among) quite a crowd of jackdaws and carrion crows; and the mixed bands of finches and other small birds that now fill the tree with song and excited chattering. And soon there'll be chiffchaffs, blackcaps and wood warblers - they can't be far away now.

One bird I've searched for all winter in vain, in and around our garden, is the tree creeper. That's disappointing - the previous winter saw a tree creeper regularly out and about in our garden. Perhaps it's been too mild; last year's tree creeper had been forced to search for food away from its normal habitat, on our brick and stone walls and in our garden shrubs, but this year, perhaps, they've not needed to do that. I'm sure there will have been one in our great oak, from time to time, so I guess that, for all my searching, I've just been unlucky and missed it. By the way, someone I used to know claimed to have a tree creeper that regularly visited the feeders in his garden. I refused to believe him, as this wasn't something tree creepers do so far as I was aware, but when I called to see him, yes indeed, there it was. I've never known one do this anywhere else, though.