Spring Snow

It really is the light that tells the birds and plants that spring is about here. My snowdrops and crocuses and early anemones are in bloom, the Filbert tree has lovely catkins on it and everywhere I look there are more and more birds every day, here at my feeder and out on the water. They are on the move to where ever they will nest and breed. I heard a high up flock of geese heading north the other day. The chickens have started to lay again which is stimulated by increasing daylight. Nevertheless in spite of that it snowed hard for several hours today. It finally turned to rain and all disappeared but for a few hours the herb garden look so pretty
In the middle of the snowstorm I looked out at the feeder and saw twice as many red-winged blackbirds as we've had for the last month or so. There are at least a dozen here now, they must have arrived today in the middle of the snow. All males, the females aren't here yet. They usually arrive a month or so after the first males.