It has not been particularly interesting conditions for photography but it was interesting yesterday morning at my garden feeding station in the run up to Big Garden Bird Watch. Green and gold finches in abundance challenging each other to get some sunflower hearts. I posted a picture on my Facebook page of the wolf Moon and the tiny red dot of Mars and have included a higher resolution version here. Check out the nine o’clock position for Mars. You do see odd things in the night sky including an illuminated flypast from a bearded dude. I don’t know the specific species of this bracket fungus but it provides a nice little bit of brightness and colour at the Lodge in winter. Nature reserves appear wild and often unkempt but that belies the efforts that are required to maintain the various habitats by a host of staff and often volunteers. The “new” heath at the Lodge in the last photo was a conifer plantation less that 20 years ago and is now a thriving heath on the Greensand ridge thanks to the efforts of RSPB staff and volunteers.