Watching birds can be an antidote to the winter blues
HOW glorious it was on Friday to catch even a fleeting glimpse of the sunshine. Rarely have I felt so in need of a blast of Vitamin D.
I presume it must have been the same for the pair of long-tailed tits in my garden, who I have not seen for weeks but suddenly burst into life around the feeders.
Normally I consider myself positively immune to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Indeed I tend to find the opposite. I revel in bad weather, the colder the better, and all the dark drudgery it brings.
But this winter has proven a tougher slog. Last Sunday when sleet lashed down all around me I was gripped by an almost irresistible urge from about midday onwards simply to return to bed.
This weekend the gloomy weather returns, albeit with milder temperatures and bursts of sunshine in between the squalls. The long-term forecast looks cold and unsettled.
One theory of what brings about SAD – as it is known – is the lack of light. Appetite, sex drive and mood are all dictated by the amount of light hitting the back of our eye. Darkness in the morning and evening also disrupts our body clocks.
The days may be growing longer but at this time of year it is in inches, rather than yards, and there are many more weeks of winter still to come.
And so with the ongoing lack of sunshine you take your respite where you can find it. For me it is in the winter visiting birds.
This weekend is the RSPB big Garden Birdwatch where people are urged to spend an hour monitoring the birds in their gardens and post the results online.
The sun may be vanishing but I will be keeping an eye on the long-tailed tits and anything else that flits over the fence. For a weary mind there is no better cure.