Woolly hats

The day has been cold again, so out has come the woolly hat and the extra thick socks, all of which remain tightly in place even when I am sat in front of the fire with my usual blanket of dogs. Today I have used up some Christmas gift tokens and have treated myself to a pile of quality seeds for planting in the allotments come March. French beans,climbing beans,hardy broad beans onions, shallots, beetroots, seed potatoes and a host of other veg, will supplement my usual seedlings that have been swapped with various individuals from the village and my sister's co-operative allotment, and I have bought a few luxuries, including a large packet of yellow poppies seeds, which I will sow by the reducing manure heaps, to add a little colour to the field later in the season
my favourite bantam Mary, (below) had a bit of a scare this afternoon, as she was on the receiving end of a potential attack by some sort of bird of prey. I heard the cockerels growling a warning (whilst the three remaining guinea fowl screamed and whistled from the Churchyard) and I saw the bird drop like a stone into my small enclosure which houses the more delicate pure breeds and Bunny the disabled hen.
I presumed it was perhaps a buzzard , swooping down onto Bunny, but it was a smaller hawk of some kind and it seemed to be after Mary, the smallest of the my bantam hens.
The attack, in fact, came to nothing. The hawk must of thought better of it all, or perhaps the cocky little bantam Cockerel, Roger, could have scared it off, but before I could even trot over to save the day, it had swooped up and out of the field, with only the scream of the guineas to mark where it had been.
My idea of having the guinea fowl as watchmen over the others, perhaps might of been a good idea.