Sunday 25 March

• More snow last weekend - but still not the stuff you can make snow balls out of, so unable to make the snow birds I've been saving feathers for for over 2 years!
• Someone on Freegle wanted an old laptop so gave him mine. Have found some butane canisters which will go on Freegle  Thursday and hopefully be picked over the weekend. All this space created, even though not much, is thankfully received!
• Made bread Friday evening - first time I've made bread for over a year.
• Decanted sloe vodka - very syrupy which is surprising as it is only sloes and vodka - no sugar. I now leave it for 2 years.
• Ride through the Walthamstow Wetlands on Saturday. Low cloud but actually dry and quite mild. Wetlands not much changed from last month but geese very noisy. Rare finch must still be there as lots of people with equipment trained on a hedge just south of the engine house again.
• Frog spawn in pond. Lot of it but it is black. Is this healthy?
• Also several (3?) dead frogs near pond. Cats? Foxes?
• Moved one compost back to nearer the fence. Might be able to move one more, but will have to wait til after foxgloves flowered for others. Not much compost - all went back into the moved bin.
• Compostible toilet paper "plastic" isn't compostable in domestic circumstances. What I used to put in the compost bin is still there very visible. Mine now goes in the rubbish bin.
• Some bits of wood out of skips and sawed up most of it.

Sunday 11 March

• Mild week and I have had two sessions in the garden cutting dried flower stalks from plants. Also cut down the autumn raspberries.
• The corner shop in the High Road has closed down and they have piled the shelving from the "shed" where they stored the veg on the pavement. Rescued some clean wood though a lot had screws in it. Have started sawing it up,
• Frogs in pond but moving too fast to see what they are up to - but found a mating pair against a raised bed edge so can guess!
• Went for my cycle ride Saturday morning, but wasn't able to get into the Wetlands as planned as Coppermill Lane gate was closed.
• Lea still very oily and absolutely disgusting below Princess of Wales pub. A women on one of the houseboats said a swan sanctuary had rescued 35 swans and there had been a lot of dead moorhens, etc, as they can't keep warm with oily feathers.
• Wednesday evening to Hornbeam Centre for local Greenpeace event to see film Demain in which the filmmakers visited cities and communities working on inspiring projects relating to energy, food, education, finance and democracy. Frightening people with ecological disaster won't work - inspiring them with viable, positive alternatives will - if we can get the message out there!

Sunday 4 March

• The recent snow showed the benefits of living in the city if you wanted to get to work. I had no trouble getting in and home again, though colleagues who lived out of London had problems - trains being cancelled due to the weather forecast!
• The snow was dry so didn't make snowballs, which meant I couldn't use my saved feathers and acorns to make snow birds.
• I have two casserole dishes I use as wildlife water bowls. During cold weather, each morning I bring one into the conservatory to thaw and take the other out. Thursday and Friday morning there was still ice on the one left in over night.
• I try to keep a corner of the pond free from ice to release the gases. Thursday and Friday morning it was too thick to break. The thaw started over Friday night so Saturday afternoon I went out to see if was thin enough to make a hole. With difficulty I managed it. Then I saw a frog swimming under the ice so worked hard to removed a slab of ice and put in a forked stick in such a way I though it could use it to get out if it wanted - but it was still there in the pond today. The books say frogs don't hibernate at the bottom of ponds but I have suspected they do in my pond and this seems to prove it!
• Saw a crow building a nest this morning.