Of Mice and Birds

In addition to feeding the Swans and ducks during each winter, I also put out feeding for the wild birds at various spots along the riverside. One of these spots is at the retaining wall at the road bridge, under some dense bushes. Every morning I have a following of regulars that descend on the mixture of crushed peanuts, bird seed, and bread crumbs. One of the new regulars is a mouse that comes out of the wall every morning to join the birds, it has a mate and probably a nest within the wall. It proves the value of keeping strategic patches of dense undergrowth for the protection and proliferation of the birds and other wildlife ! If you look carefully you will see it feasting at top centre and bottom left of the pics.

The slow thaw got the Swans inspecting the island nest site today, but it will be March before they start nest building again.