I was going to skip SoS this week since I’m still catching up on reading the last couple of weeks’ posts from everybody and didn’t think there was much to share out here other than more snow. Yet here I am again because I realized that I’ve never tried documenting winter in the garden before and even if I do nothing more than post pictures of the snow getting deeper, it’ll be useful for looking back on for next year. So here I am, with a garden that is growing a prolific layer of snow if nothing else! I also apologize to those of you who will get random late comments in the coming days.

1. We hit our lowest temperature so far this past Tuesday, -13°C. It might reach that again tonight, but it’s been mostly hovering in the -5°C range the rest of the time. I was going to walk around and see how the cutting garden was doing, but the snow was so deep that it started getting into my boots, so I’ll probably have to strap on snowshoes next week if the weather keeps up. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get good photos of animal tracks for next week at least!

2. A closeup of snowy plum trees.

3. Little feathered friends are constantly coming and going now that their favorite winter cafe is open for business. The first to arrive after a refill are usually the fearless tree sparrows (Passer montanus). There’s a family that builds its nest in the eaves above our front door every spring, so we hear cheeping babies whenever the door opens. They’re so used to us that I’m not surprised they don’t flinch at me coming over with a camera on the other side of the kitchen window.

4. After I stay still for a while, the great tits (Parus major) usually arrive in a mob and start pushing each other about because obviously, the seed that’s already in their friend’s mouth is always The Best One. One particularly cheeky one had a staredown with me for a good several seconds!

5. The shyest of the bunch are the blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). They’re also the smallest, so tend to get pushed around a bit in the frenzy. They manage to get in there when the others aren’t looking, though, and get their share. I also put up tallow balls on several of the trees, so that they have different places to eat if the main feeder is too crowded. I hope that we’ll get a few more different birds this year — I’ve seen one with a bit of red come by in past years but haven’t figured out what it is yet.

6. With darkness arriving by 4 PM, we’ve got plenty of hanging lanterns outside. The candles last two evenings if I time it right and look pretty flickering from various points in the night.

Thanks for visiting and please do check out what the other SoSers are doing over at Jim’s page!