Tumbling in the wind...

The weather's completely changed again - very mild with grey skies and extremely high winds. I was sitting at the computer this morning and looked out of the window to see about twenty redpolls sitting in a neighbour's tree, swaying and bobbing around. I first saw them yesterday in our pine tree, and it looks as though they might stay in the neighbourhood until the birch seeds run out.

After putting a second coat of paint on the hall walls, I spent my coffee break time watching the bird feeders. Once again there were masses of tits, swirling around the garden in the wind, including about six long-tailed tits. They are virtually never still so I was quite pleased to capture this one, on a bush very close to the window.

Despite the wind, I took the dogs over to Ferry Meadows, deliberately choosing somewhere that I could walk without being near too many trees. As I left the car I was amazed to find six lesser celandine plants in flower on a south facing bank. I checked my blog and it was late March before I found any in flower last year. My ploy of tree avoidance didn't quite work, and within the first five minutes of our walk I very nearly got hit by a flying willow branch - quite scary!

It's a long time since we've had such a windy day, and once I'd got over the initial fright, it was quite exhilarating. The large lake had quite significant waves, and the seagulls and rooks were wheeling and tumbling in the sky. The wind made an amazing rushing noise in the trees, and there was a continuous high pitched whining from the boats in the yacht-park. Even the hazel catkins were almost horizontal!

Hope everyone out there is staying safe in this wild weather!