Author Topic: First heavy frost - 2022  (Read 3224 times)

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Online ideasguy

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First heavy frost - 2022
« on: December 13, 2022, 02:29:41 PM »
Our first heavy frost was last Thursday. We had Dahlias right up untll then. Ive seen them killed off with a sudden frost in October in some years. Really annoying since the early frost is usually followed by a period of milder weather.

I hope our members in the UK are keeping safe and warm :) This blast of icy conditions are a bit of a shock after the prolonged mild weather we have had. Mainland UK has a lot of snow. We in N Ireland have had a little, certainly nothing to cause traffic chaos like we see on UK TV  news bulletins.
It hasnt cleared though, even though we have had a few hours of above zero and thawing conditions each day. Today it managed a staggering 0 degrees around lunchtime but its falling away as I write.

 I feed the birds every morning and this morning when I emptied out the frozen contents of the Plant Pot trays I use for providing a drink for them I had just turned my back after filling with fresh water when a brave little bird hopped into the tray and had a vigorous bath. Brrrrrrr!

My blackbirds love an unknown variety of apple in my garden. They are OK for eating but the tree is about 20 years old and produces an abundance of fruit each year. I store most of them and give some to my sister for her "livestock".
Ive counted 8 most days, so I have to spread them out over an area. The local bully spends a lot of time chasing competitors off. He doesn't get time to eat!

How are you managing?

« Last Edit: December 13, 2022, 02:40:06 PM by ideasguy »

Offline barryl

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Re: First heavy frost - 2022
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2022, 10:56:45 PM »
Nice to hear. We are currently in the USA for a short holiday with friends and I was rather shocked that the weather is colder at home than here.

We used to have a lot of birds but then our neighbours got 2 cats. We are trying various things to discourage cats from our garden but so far birds have not returned (and I cant really blame them!).

Online ideasguy

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Re: First heavy frost - 2022
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2022, 05:08:52 PM »
Enjoy your holiday Barry! Bitterly cold again today but it did reach a staggering 1 degree for an hour or two this afternoon.

Our neighbour has 6 cats and they dont seem to have any family planning sense. They sneak around here every day until the barking mad occupant tries to scare them off. Problem is they now know I cant run as quick as I used to and sometimes they just look at me mockingly.
I decided to allow nature to take its course as they catch a mouse occasionally.
The birds are very wary of them and are continually on the lookout.

Online Palustris

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Re: First heavy frost - 2022
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2022, 05:35:07 PM »
Our cats do not seem to bother with the birds any more. Too old to go chasing I think. Mind we don't get many small birds in any case. there is far too much food available around us. Everyone seems to feed them (and the b"£"£$ squirrels) Rooks, crows, pigeons and magpies are our feathereds.

Offline barryl

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Re: First heavy frost - 2022
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2022, 12:51:08 PM »
Indeed we have plenty of magpies and pigeons (and squirrels!) that we do not want to feed. We used to get lots of nice small birds but no longer. We have tried scattering some lion poo which seems to have deterred the cats but we still havent seen small birds.