the snow is finally thawing now round my way, and the water isnt freezing solid in the drinkers either..............gave birds a good clean out this morning so all nice and clean, for now

yeah same down here David, been sunny all day but freezin over this evening

yesd same here mark, coming colder now......

freezing cold here

its lovely in gurnsey, rene and ginger have their shorts and t shirts on.........

snows all gone here, water doesnt freeze either...alot warmer altogether though cant wait till i pair the birds

when you pairing alex ?

want to pair now but i cant.... wont have the rings in time

will be pairing about 5 th feb david

ah yes, same as me........think i remember mark saying he had paired up the other day, i was looking at them this afternoon and wondering is to pair earlier

but i wont.

Did you pair early last year?

yes i did alex, paired end of december but had a very bad % of eggs hatching, i think this was due to the cold but im not sure................altho i do know its still cold in feb but by the time the eggs hatch and the young are in the nest it should have warmed up a bit......

Yep, thats what makes me think twice, even if they hatch okay theres not much I can do with them in the freezing cold.... makes sense just to hold out till its warmer

one thing i did do this year alex is to wrap the nest bowls in news paper to hold the heat a bit, ken told me to do this and i will do it again this breeding season too.