The main road into Briançon is clear but as we drove through the middle of town today, we were surprised how bad the roads were there. We had taken the Mini so had to be extra careful. Chris was not too pleased when someone tailgated him on the way home. We popped into the arts centre to see what films they are showing. They used to have a web site but that seems to have closed down.

Due to the fact that the snow is covering our patio, the birds are coming closer and closer. We’ve cleared a space outside the patio doors to put food out and have also hung food from Pierre’s balcony above. The local blackbirds now visit regularly. There seems to a hierarchy. The male chases away the female and the female chases away other males. The blackbirds here seem larger than the ones back in England.

There is a big bruiser blue tit that chases away all the other birds but he cannot intimidate the crested tit. One day, they stared at each other, then touched beaks, almost like kissing, but the bruiser had to back down. The siskin however, sits on the fat ball, happily munching away completely ignoring the crested tit who thinks its his right to be there. The sparrows are real wussers and fly off at the drop of a hat. But if the blackbird is feeding on the patio, they will happily join him as if they think that if he’s there, it must be safe. The coal tits squabble amongst themselves and don’t seem to be afraid of anything. They do seem, however, to have become very choosy – throwing out sunflower seeds they think are not good enough. There is one particular one we have named Mr Fussy, who sat on the feeder one day and threw out 17 seeds before he found one he liked. The great tits are very well behaved, taking turns to take a seed although there’s a definite hierarchy there as well. The local robin is much braver now and is also a frequent visitor.