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1st: New Year Plant Hunt
Every year the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland run a New Year Plant Hunt - designed to monitor how many plants are flowering this time of year and so gauge an understanding of our changing climate. This was our haul today. The hunt runs from the 1st to the 4th so we will keep checking until Sunday.
The recent cold snap has killed off a few others that we were seeing, namely thistle, bramble, red campion and blackthorn! This 'proper' winter weather is most welcome.

Dandelion
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Gorse and Hogweed
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Meadow Buttercup and Angelica
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Corn Chamomile and Hedgerow Crane's-bill
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2nd: Busy Blue Tits
Spent a delightful few minutes watching a pair of blue tits in our inner hedgerow (from Goat field) this morning, as they 'teep teeped' their way around the mossy covered branches, looking for tasty morsels to keep the cold at bay!
And our 'eighth' Plant Hunt find: a somewhat bedraggled Mallow - sheltering in the mound by Firefly's 'pond' in Swallow field - as more frosts take hold, don't think it survive much longer!
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3rd: Our perfect corner
The bottom corner of Oak field is a very special place. It was here we stood back in the summer and counted over a dozen species of butterfly without moving a foot. It's a fabulous corridor between us and Cadbury Wood where we see all manner of birds including stonechats, treecreepers and wrens. It's often very sheltered and in late spring bursts into colour with Lesser Celandine and Trefoil. Sitting on the bench is a perfect place to catch the warmth of the sun, even in winter (we sat there on New Year's Day and really felt some heat). And we just adore the shape of some of those trees.
Photos below are the best from a quarter of an hour at the Bird feeding station (not the greatest shots) and an eighth species for the New Year's Plant Hunt (which ends tomorrow). It is a periwinkle, not native to the UK, but now deemed as 'naturalised'. We are not actually sure we have ever seen this particular plant (just at the top of the allotment) NOT in flower (bit like gorse).
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4th: Growth amidst the frozen land
Everywhere was pretty much frozen this morning after a splattering of snow and below zero temperatures hit us last night. The land just looked stunning. And still we see growth: we noticed docks with new leaves and nettles where the new leaves were emerging from the dead stalks of last year!! 2025 was, according to the Met Office, the hottest year on record ever and this despite the last week of it having 'normal-ish' winter temperatures. Climate change is happening before our very eyes and some parts of nature are getting a tad confused. We had a total of nine flowering plants for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland's New Year Plant Hunt this year but when we entered the data, we were told that four of them are not the 'usual' species recorded, i.e. for them to be flowering now is not expected at all. The four in question are: Wild Angelica, Corn Chamomile, Hedgerow Crane's-bill and Common Mallow. We sent in photos (as above) as evidence and wait for verification.
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5th: More Frozen landscape
Plus a fab video of one of our foxes drinking from a frozen Fruit Pond last night
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6th: Bird Feeding Station
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7th: Brave flowers
We are now snow and ice-free and some of the plant life has heaved a sigh or relief. The dandelions are extra ordinary - there hasn't been a day when we haven't been able to find one in flower. The Corn Chamomile is similar and today we spied new flowers that look ready to open out as soon as a bit of warmth hits them - which possibly won't be any time soon: heavy rain and strong winds are due tomorrow!!
Meanwhile, our winter skies continue to be spectacular.
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8th: Siskins are back
Delighted to see our siskins back at the feeders and they are certainly giving the goldfinches a run for their money. Meanwhile, Jelly spot and Turkeytail fungi have come through the frost, snow and ice and are looking as fresh as ever!!
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9th: Robins and Willow
Being serenaded by a Robin is pure magic. They make you feel very special, as though out of all the people in the entire world, they have, at this exact moment, chosen only you to sing to. We expect we all have 'our' robins - and we are thankful for every single one.
Also pure magic was a morning with willow with the supremely talented and patient Gemma Ansell-Nelson today at The Craft Room - Workshops & Supplies here in Chulmleigh. We made wreath supports, stars and a beautiful fat ball feeder for the garden. Jack is very much NOT a natural crafter but Gemma's tuition ensured she came home with three items she is very much proud of!! Cannot recommend these craft workshops enough!! Aren't we lucky to have these on our doorstep? Check out what else is on this month and beyond

10th: Water droplets
Had fun today with the Macro lens taking shots of water droplets on the hawthorn at the bottom of Oak Field. Some were frozen, producing some really weird effects.
It was also a joy to watch this female blackbird enjoying the berries just by Fruit Field shelter, Much as we love feeding the birds, it is also great to know that the land is providing for them as well.
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11th: It only took an hour!!
We made the fat ball feeder on Friday (9th), hung it up first thing on Saturday (10th) and within a mere hour, the first blue tit started to use it!! Watch the video to see the other visitors we had. (We collect the cards from the trail cams every 24 hours, hence only seeing the footage today.)

12th: Fungi and Blue Tits
Still spotting new fungi - here we have some teeny Angel's Bonnet found on a dead piece of bramble stalk under the Ash tree by Yeti's gate and what 'may' be a new species to our land - Smokey Bracket - we need to check the underside and make sure it is grey. It's in the outer hedgerow in Oak though and quite far into the ditch - access may be a tad tricky!!
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And in the video we can see that the numbers of Blue tits are starting to rival the Goldfinches right now. Plus we spotted our first Greenfinch of the year back at the feeders this week which is fabulous news.

13th: Spindle
Jo and Paul gave us this spindle tree last autumn (it was too big for their garden and wasn't doing that well where it was) and we are cautiously optimistic about its future with us. There are a lot of new buds and a brand new shoot from below the soil. Fingers are being crossed as we type.
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14th: At the Bird Feeding Station
This is the usual sight first thing in the morning before we top up the bird feeders: a mass descent as the goldfinches, in particular, rush to get to the last of the seed. The trays are proving fabulous as they act as another feeding area instead of the seeds falling to the ground and starting to rot before they all get eaten. And any that does fall, gets hoovered up by the ground feeders.
Sunflowers are, without doubt, the seed of choice, and the waste here is negligible. The mixed seed not so. We have started to put out more sunflowers than mixed seed now and just hope that all the individual species are all still getting what they need.

15th: Pond LIfe
We took a torch with us this evening and headed for Poultry Pond where we spied oodles of palmate newts (and possibly some Common) and a mating pair of frogs plus the biggest Great Diving Beetle ever. Also zillions of water boatmen - think nightly torch visits are now going to become a thing - we are also setting the moth trap this Friday night as it is meant to be dry!! We have been seeing moths in the trail cam videos of the Green Lane at night so are optimistic we might catch something.
Feel things are really beginning again and it's very exciting.
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16th: Foxes, Lichens and Trees
We were very chuffed to see both our foxes on the Trailcam footage from a few nights ago - proof that they are both still around. We wonder if (hope) these are a male and female and of course the bigger question is whether she is pregnant. The gestation period of a fox is 7-8 weeks and most cubs are born in March/ April, thus mating season is most definitely now. A few nights ago we heard the incredible sounds of a fox wailing and shrieking - noises that suggest mating was on the mind!! Foxes tend to pair for life and the dog fox will attend to both the vixen and later the cubs in terms of bringing them food. The 'den' however is not chosen by the vixen until shortly before she gives birth and so whilst we know that our middle hedgerow is a place the pair frequently enter and exit from, any cubs may not be born there. We will simply have to keep the trail cams going and see what we will see.
There are several brilliant articles here about fox mating, breeding and general behaviour.
In other news, we spied a spectacular specimen of what we think may be Cladonia chlorophaea, the False Pixie Cup Lichen (there are a fair few similar species so it is considered to be part of an aggregate group). We found it growing on a fence post on the garden/viewing area fence and was in prime 'fruiting' condition.
And lastly, after the weather being too wet, then us having coughs, then the land freezing.. today we finally planted Lynn's trees in the first bank in Fruit field. These have all come from her mum's garden and we are mega chuffed to have them. They are mostly birch, with one beech and two or three sweet chestnut. So 'Lynn's bank' is now officially launched!!

17th: Mallards
The trailcams are picking up our pair of mallards quite a lot now - Chaser pond seems to the place to visit at night and judging by the female dabbling gong on here, they are finding things to eat. They eat seeds and water vegetation as well as pond invertebrates. We are happy to see them although aware they will never nest here with the dogs around!! But if it is proving a useful nighttime foraging area, we are delighted they have chosen us. Mallards (in keeping with other ducks) will often do a lot of feeding at night as that way they can avoid disturbance and predators and eat more safely. They will then return to more open water for daytime roosting! It may be that they have chosen us for the winter - time will tell!!

18th: Pinbroidery with Jo Everitt, making hand-stitched wildlife cards
A fabulous pinbroidery workshop led by the amazing Jo Everitt today . Pinbroidery involves using a template to prick holes into a blank greeting card and then stitching with an embroidery thread to create your picture.Fine motor skills were needed (and in Jack's case reading glasses) but as we stitched and our harvest mouse appeared in front of our eyes it was so rewarding. (And thanks to the group for all these fab photos.)
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19th: Water droplets
Fun with the macro, moss, lichen and dock
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20th: White and grey
Damp, windy and grey - but then we spied our first snowdrops in the garden!! There is always something to lift the spirits!
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21st: Herons
Our Grey Heron is now becoming a bit of a regular feature. We catch it on the trailcam just occassionally but enough to know that it is motivated enough to keep coming back. Our ponds are rich in life as the blog on the 15th showed - and of course frogs are now starting to appear in more numbers too (not that we want it to eat too many of those). As well as the Grey Heron, there are also a few Night Herons in the UK. They are as scarce as the Grey is common, but we had the privilege of seeing some in a location in Devon last year as whilst a scarce migrant, some are now breeding in this country. Images below the video.

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