Frosty Morning

There hasn't been any snow yet this year in London, but I woke up the other morning to a magical silvery frost covering the garden. It made the fat buds on the little Magnolia stellata look as though they were made of cotton wool. I'm always surprised that they don't shrivel up and die after such an experience, but they seem to enjoy it if anything. 

Frost on magnolia buds

The frost also laid a silver patina all over the fern leaves surrounding my mini pond, making them look like something out of a fairy tale.  

Where the birds go to keep warm in the cold I am not sure. I know this cold spell didn't last long so I expect they could find enough cover in the evergreen shrubs like the yew hedge and the thick ivy climbing up a neighbouring tree, but all the same, I'm glad I put up a nesting box last autumn which could act as some sort of protection.

I  also put up a little woven small-bird shelter I was given for my birthday. I fixed it so it was hidden in   the boughs of an evergreen golden privet.    

                                                   

Curiously, the birds have decided they could improve on the charming human design of this shelter and have torn off the roof part so it's still a shelter but not quite as envisaged by the original maker.

Original woven shelter with front entrance

Shelter re-designed by the birds

                                        

Are you watching The Green Planet on BBC1? It does make you wonder what's going  on in your own garden.