It snowed! And snowed and snowed. We had about 6 inches by lunchtime on Sunday. Helen could not get in to feed the birds which was not surprising, so I was thinking I would need to do it, which was interesting as the golf cart was a no no! Luckily Holly and Adam had driven back the night before and so met me in the field as I brought up the dogs from their early morning amble.

Of course the two youngest dogs had never seen snow before, so that was fun to see their reaction. Concern at first and then they loved it. We fed the birds, opening the doors in the hawk walk and feeding the flying birds and then closing them so the snow did not drive in to the birds. When we built them we put in a window into the doors, so they could see out and not be in the dark, which is good for them and nice for us. I am glad that we did because this morning it was much to cold to leave them open - well below freezing. We left the flying owls to see if we could fly them and get some photos.

And we did, Haze (Barn Owl) was somewhat thrown by the first snow she had seen. Hemp was too fat from the Owl evening. Hoxton, Bramly and Orion were brilliant and did not give a damn about the snow. So we decided to invite some of the photographer members to come the following day. Only a few could make it, but I think they got some nice stuff. We did try Drift (Snowy Owl) but he was a little fat, I don't think he minded the snow though.

After the incredibly cold night we just had the ground was very crispy and the places where we had walked the previous two days were very icy. Just goes to show that you should clear paths on the first day before it all freezes.

Rob was rushing around on Monday trying to save flattened plants, I think most will be OK, although we did lose a few branches from trees.

I have to say I hope it is all gone by friday as it will make the Owl Evening tricky if it is still icy. Oh and Adam's lovely big gazebo got flattened and completely ruined and damn me that was the one thing that the insurance did not cover - typical I guess. So I am not sure what we are going to do about that at this point. Still it is nice to have a proper winter again rather than the tepid affairs we have had recently.