Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

I've had the odd goldfinch visit my garden on a few occasions, but they're never regular visitors and I could go months without seeing one. They're such lovely little birds, tiny and colourful, so it became my mission to attract them to the garden on a regular basis. I'd heard that goldfinches like niger seed above all else, though some people mentioned that in their experience, they tend to prefer sunflower hearts. I'd already got mixed seed and also sunflower hearts in feeders and they weren't tempting them, so I bought some niger seed. They're tiny seeds so they have to be held in a special feeder especially for them, the feeder has tiny slits in it. It had been hung for quite some time before I noticed a goldfinch on it last week. I've still only seen the one goldfinch at a time, he doesn't bring any friends with him, but he's been back every day since, and he sits on the feeder for ages having his fill. I'm hoping that in time, he'll tell his friends where a good meal can be found and bring them along with him. The sunflower hearts aren't wasted, I've got lots of chaffinches who visit and they seem to like them best, as well as a cheeky robin who has his fair share.

I didn't get anything done on the allotment this weekend. Hubby went down there and said there was standing water again due to all the rain. He's started digging out a trench ready to lay the extra drainage pipe through the middle of the allotment. This should help the water to run away in to the beck at the side of the site. He also covered the squash bed which has already been dug over. This should help keep the weeds down and also warm up the soil. It'll be some time yet before any squash are planted out, I haven't even sown the seeds yet, so this should help keep the bed in a decent state in the meantime. Last weekend he covered part of the legume bed with a cloche to warm the soil ready for the broad beans to be planted out. I'd hoped to have done that by now, but I'll hold back a while longer until the weather warms up a little.

I woke to a smattering of snow this morning, though it didn't look as though it would last long as the sun was shining. What a difference a few hours can make, the sky's now grey and it's snowing, in fact, we're forecast light snow showers all day. If only it was a bit warmer, it's was bitterly cold when I took Archie for his walk this morning.