Counting on bird feeders

A VISION of spring blossomed in the garden the morning winter came with frosts so cruel they should have faced criminal charges.

- Stuart Winter

The flesh-numbing temperatures were forgotten in an instant at the sight of a female blackcap perched on hawthorn sprigs and dressed in delicious shades of builders’ tea.

Her chocolate button topknot - not for her the eponymous “black cap” of the male - glowed in the icy sunlight.

This was only the second time in 30 years that a blackcap has visited our garden when slouched in winter torpor.

My first thought was to hope she will linger long enough to be archived in the history books.