First snowfall of the year

The strikingly beautiful Jay, captured by the trailcam at 8:20am this morning. Thankfully I wasn't so far behind that I missed it all - opening the curtains about 9am to an almost white view out over the playing fields and, despite still suffering the remains of a chesty cold, we managed to get up, fed, organised and on our way to Rais by 11am: just as the snow was starting to melt - it was only a dusting really, but enough for me to find a few tracks to start a "snowprint" collection.

Pheasant prints in the snow

The first, and most obvious, was the pheasant. The clear prints of the rune Tyr - "The rune of sacrifice of the self for the well-being of the whole" - or in other words.... tasty Sunday lunch, how very apt. Judging by the placement of prints, one directly behind the other, and the distance apart - it looks to be ambling past the campfire in no great hurry. I retraced them back over toad bridge and lost them up in the muddy reaches of the stream on the Eastern side of the wood.
The second set of prints were in the Yardarm, and given the size of them, I'm guessing they were left by a squirrel, but for a beginner like me it's a little difficult to tell - they didn't appear to come from anywhere or go to anywhere - so that would fit with a squirrel accessing the deck from the upright supports of the Yardarm itself. (Unless of course there's a very large bird about with mammalian feet!?)

The third set I'm pretty certain were made by the deer, although not sure which species. They look a little large to be Muntjac, and possibly not pointy enough for Roe, so I would go with Fallow. It surprises me however to see that they appear to be using the steps up the bank now rather than the bank itself. I wonder if they snuggle down together in the Yardarm at night for a good ol' moonlit chinwag - I know the pheasants certainly do - messy buggers - kicking dust and dirt all over the place. But I guess it is a dry and cosy place to stay in these cold nights.  With any luck more snow will fall (and I will get much better at getting up early enough to see them before they start melting).

Ant took his new pick axe and dug out 20 or so Rhodie roots with relative ease whilst I rehashed the feeding station and organised Immac's insides into a more usable space. More peanuts are on order and the trailcam is reset to see what else might be visiting the Yardarm after hours - a brief visit, but well worth it.... bring on the snowfall I say.