Winter arrives

Winter has well and truly arrived - today we spotted a group of redwings flying over us. Last year I shared some pictures on here that I took of redwings in the holly bushes outside Visitor Reception so we will have to see if they come back again. The hollies have a good show of berries already so fingers crossed! Redwings are a migrant species, arriving from Scandinavia in October and November and leaving again in March. They are a small thrush with a creamy pale stripe above the eye and dusky red patch under the wing (hence the name):

Another sign that winter is here is preparations for Frost Fair have begun. The huge marquees are going up over the next few days and the wardens are gathering staff and volunteers to debrief the Car Parking Plan. With nearly 12,000 visitors last year it is essential that we have a large team of people controlling the thousands of cars that will be coming on to site. We are also wishing hard for a cold snap! Rain and wet ground are not friends with car tyres...

Finally, the deer cull has started as of last weekend, so if you are coming to Attingham for a walk on Saturday morning please remember the deer park is closed until mid-morning when the stalker finishes and lets the duty warden know that it is safe to reopen. This means that we will have venison for sale in the shop again by the weekend. We are also feeding the deer in earnest to make sure that they enter the winter in the best possible condition, and you can watch the deer being fed at 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays and during the school holidays. We have changed the feeding area from previous years now that the new WWII walk is open, so to watch us just walk to the top of the deer park from the main gate and stand along the first 50 metres or so of the new walk. Rumour has it that there will be elves feeding the deer closer to Christmas...

Craig throws out fodder beet for the deer to munch on