Country diary: snow has drained the forest of colour

Glapthorn Cow Pastures, Northamptonshire: The naked winter wood seems vast and empty, silent but for the thick patter of melt dropsSnow, an inch or two, but a broken layer, mainly because the chill wind has plastered vertically. Swirling flurries fall still, but as the afternoon progresses, snow shifts into sleet, then freezing rain. A flock of 100 fieldfare hunt in an empty sheep pasture, scrutinising the half-buried sward for morsels of invertebrate food. Their backs dip and hunch above the snow as they tug and flick at detritus and vegetation. They do not look like good invertebrate-hunting conditions to me, but I hope these Scandinavian visitors are more adept than I and manage to fill their bellies. The fieldfare are accompanied by a single starling and an individual mistle thrush who, hopping erect through the snow and grass, appears to have adopted the role of lookout. Continue reading...