First Snow Storm of the Year

After a relatively mild winter (except for the Boxing Day debacle that brought a mix of snow and rain), Chester has received its first real snow. Despite today’s above-freezing temperatures, yesterday’s storm brought enough snow to lay down a 10-centimeter white blanket on the fields.

On close inspection of shrubbery, however, it appears that cold temperatures and high winds weren’t enough to deter the deer from their evening’s browse. The growing tips of this azalea, with flower buds that promised brilliant flame-coloured blossoms in spring, have been bitten off overnight.

It’s not hard to pin the blame on the culprit – or culprits. Deer tracks are clearly evident in the new-fallen snow. The hoof prints crisscross the garden, forming circles around holly bushes and ornamental crab apple trees, and passing over a perennial bed to the stripped-bare branches of several euonymous shrubs.

Fortunately, although buds on the lower branches of every shrub in the garden have been targeted, the animals were unable to reach the higher branches of several rhododendrons, whose buds and leathery leaves glisten under the melting snow.