The year has turned and we’re getting noticeably longer days. Snowdrop shoots in the garden are tipped with white spear-points, the witch hazel has been out since the beginning of the month, and I notice new signs of spring on every walk - fully-opened wild arum leaves and two flowering dandelions on the canal bank, open hazel catkins dusted with yellow pollen in the hedgerows and the first tender green leaves on the honeysuckle.

I’ve heard great tits and dunnocks singing too, as well as the usual robin. Most of the birds are still in winter behaviour though, with big flocks of greylag geese grazing in the fields by the canal and winter wildfowl on the mere. I’m stunned by the size of the gull roost. I’m not very good at gulls, but that doesn’t stop me enjoying the spectacle of them massing to roost on the water, more arriving every minute in ragged v-formations from every direction. I see them flying over the garden as the light begins to fade, all heading for the safety of numbers and open water.

The owls have been particularly noisy around home, both tawny owls with their comparatively dulcet hooting and the more alarming shrieks of the barn owl. I was lucky enough to be looking out of the landing window when a barn owl flew beneath it in the half-light, and gave me a wonderful view of its fabulous ochre and ash plumage as it drifted silently past – how often do you get to see one from above? And why do I never have a camera to hand when a true ‘Attenborough moment’ comes my way!

It reminded me to get myself over to Whixall Moss to see if I can spot a short-eared owl on its wintering ground; the Mammoth Tower will make a splendid look-out post, and I can scan the flooded Charles Sinker Fields for winter wildfowl on the way.  Winter visitors can be just as spectacular as summer ones, and the season really does have its own special beauties.

These frosty days have given us some particularly lovely sunrises and sunsets to enjoy, so I’m out making the most of them whenever I can!