Snowbound

Well, not exactly, but after a brief venture out this morning, I've decided I can't be bothered to take to the roads any more than is strictly necessary, and have barricaded myself inside with a plethora of reading material, a Christmas backlog of cheese, shortbread and other goodies, and a lot of malt whisky and fine port. Oh, and a box set of The Sopranos.

First thing I read today was Margaret Attwood's fine article in The Guardian about bird conservation. She covers a lot of ground, much of it the sort of thing that came up at the recent Birds, Culture and Conservation symposium.

I've also been browsing through Ian Hamilton's Collected Poems, reading The Mabinogion, and re-reading Byron Rogers' superb biography of RS Thomas, The Man Who Went Into The West.

Oh, and I've just half-watched the repeat of Bill Bailey's Birdwatching Bonanza, on Sky. It's not great, and it could be a bit shorter, but it was quite entertaining, and I suppose it's good to see birdwatching getting any sort of positive coverage. Some nice footage of Barnacle Geese, too.