December 19th – I don’t know why I think this, but I always consider cotoneasters a Christmas plant. The bright red-orange berries are a favourite with blackbirds who will strip a bush in days, all the time protecting it from the hungry beaks of other birds.

Something odd is going on though. Last year, there were huge bounties of such berries still on the bushes well into spring, seemingly barely touched. This year, these I pass on the way to work are already nearly stripped. This seems to be the same everywhere.

Why? Was preferential food available in abundance last year? Perhaps not so many blackbirds? Did something about that previous summer make the orange fruit less nutritious or maybe unpleasant?

Really puzzled by it.