There's an old joke in the UK - you can always tell it's Christmas when the Creme Eggs are in the shops. This got me thinking about the informal ways that I mark transitions within the year. Snowdrops flowering in January are a reassurance that Spring has appeared on the horizon.
Before then, the unofficial start of winter for me is the appearance of the Fieldfare which seem to appear as soon as the first heavy frost has appeared.
The Fieldfare are a type of thrush that winter in the UK. They don't partake in the food on offer in the bird feeders but they are partial to frost frozen apples that have dropped from the trees. If they can't get those, then the berries on the trees are their food of choice.
When the Fieldfare arrive, we generally see the odd one or two, but as the days progress, their numbers explode. Quite often we see flocks of a hundred or so birds powering across the garden or sitting in the branches of nearby trees.
Fieldfare are skittish birds. They don't come near the house and I've spooked them countless times simply by opening the door when they are forty feet away and safely perched in the treetops. This has made them difficult to photograph (grey skies have not helped matters) but last weekend, with a sunny winter sky gave me the best opportunity so far.
They aren't the best pictures I've ever taken but given their nervousness I'm not going to complain to much.
