Wildlife through the year: December

A male blackbird (Turdus merula) on bare ash twigs in early December...

Well, at last I come to the end of my nature journey through 2010. I have been revisiting the little green wildlife book that accompanied my childhood and trying to tick off the plants and animals featured in its monthly sketchbook pages.

The book is “Wild Life Through the Year” by Richard Morse and it was published in 1942. You can read about earlier months here.

Well, it has given me a focus and made me open my eyes to the nature around me again after all these years…

December 2010 in South Wales has been very cold, with snow that is not usually expected this early in the winter. This has made it

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Merry Christmas everyone…

Nativity stained-glass window from the Church of St Mary, Swanage, Dorset…

I hope everyone out there has a lovely Christmas/Holiday/Yule.

Also a prosperous 2011 – or at least a healthy one.

If you are in the mood for looking at old churches, go to my ancestral places galleries.

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Shiny things: Sequins

Sequinned party dresses from Anna Sui

I have loved shiny things all my life. Maybe it’s because I’m a woman – I imagine it might be an evolutionary advantage to be attracted to bright shiny berries for food.

Sequins are glorious things, making me go Ooh and Aaah and put on a silly star-struck expression.

A dolphin painted in sequins...

Here I am

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Snow birds and snow trees…

Carrion crow on a distant tree in the snow today...

Little did I think I would be spending all my time blogging about the weather these last few weeks, but

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My Christmas cactus – one year on…

My Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera russelliana) has grown a lot since last year - it usually sits on my study window ledge but I put it on the cooker hob for its portrait after I had washed off the dust from its greenery...

Last December I blogged on the subject of A Christmas cactus is for life – not just the festive season… and I urge you to go there and read a bit about the Christmas (or Holiday) cactus, Easter cactus and other succulents.

Schlumbergera russelliana in flower in December 2010

Schlumbergera russelliana in flower in December 2010

Schlumbergera russelliana in flower in December 2010

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Frosted leaves after freezing fog

Frost on Japanese anemones, December 7, 2010

I was on a day off today so couldn’t resist going out to take some pictures of frosted leaves in the garden after freezing overnight fog. These are just a few of them – more here.

I took out my old Olympus C-765 again, as I didn’t

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Black ice – “cool” but deadly

Although this is called Frost, I think it looks more like black ice - excellent, anyway. It's by Jenny Leigh...

Cats like to feel they are cool - but maybe not so cool when walking on ice - art by Cypherx

The weather theme in Britain this weekend has been black ice caused after a recent snowfall, thaw, and then freezing fog.

So I thought I would look at the sometimes sexy imagery of “black ice” in art and design.

In reality, black ice is nasty stuff – it’s a thin, unexpected and usually invisible coating of ice on roads and paths. And it doesn’t take much rain, drizzle or even just fog to coat a surface enough to cause this hazard.

I wonder if

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