Snowy walk

It has been snowing for a couple of days. Not hard but constantly. We have accumulated about 4inches 100mm. It might have been more if were not for folks obsession with clearing paths and gritting. Anyhoo I took a walk across the fields to the lottie. I had no intention of doing anything. I just wanted to make sure everything was alright and fill up the bird feeders. It was a slog across the fields in the deep snow. The wind was at my back so it was quite hot work. You know the adage "there is not such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes.". I was well dress for the occasion.

I made some fat balls for the birds. I used the food processor to chop up same left over bread and left over nuts from the parties really fine. Then I mixed up a big handful of bird seed and another of raisins, again left over from Christmas. I usually cut off the rinds of Bacon when I have a Bacon butty. The rind comes off before cooking. I chop up the discarded rinds and fat and put them in a container which then lives in the fridge. Well the save bacon rind and fat went in the mix too. I gave it a mix to combine all the ingredients. I warmed up a a chunk of lard. Whilst that was melting and lined a couple of plastic containers with foil. When the lard was liquid I poured it on top to the dry mix of seeds and bread and gave it a good stir. I packed the pick in the moulds and put them outside in the cold to set. They set really well. Not rock hard but just hard enough to hold together. I laced the fat squares [the moulds were square not round] on the a doubled up string making them ready to hang up. One went in the back garden the other at the lottie.

With a bit of luck the nuts, seeds and fat balls will help sustain the hedgerow birds. The weather must be biting. We have had lots the birds in the back garden. We even had a foreign visitor, a Fieldfare. He sat, fluffed up, in the tree occasionally hopping into the Burberris shrub to scoff the red berries much to the disdain of the Blackbirds. This weekend we have had about a dozen Blackbirds at a time sitting the taller trees of the hedge trying to make a living in the snow. I think my self and the neighbours are keeping the avian diners fed.

There very few tracks in the snow at the lottie. Just a solitary set of Rabbit tracks but they bit not go far. too parky even for rabbits. Having done my duty at the lottie a plodded home. I forgot I live on a hill so the journey was mostly up hill and into the wind. I had rosy cheeks when I got in. H and made Leek and Potato soup which went down very nicely.