walk with me wednesday.. the drey

It was one of those absolutely bone chilling mornings last winter, the kind where the wind whips through your clothing, forcing the cold dampness in, no matter how many the layers, that I found the drey* in some low bushes at the base of one of the oaks.  The wind had howled all night, breaking limbs from the trees and with it the fallen drey.  The forecast was for a nor'easter, any minute by the look of the sky.  I was in a hurry to pick up the debris before the snow started up so left it where it fell, thinking to come back when I'd finished.  This particular nest was one I saw from my window, it had been there for years.   I worried about the inhabitant.  Where would she shelter not only the incoming storm but the rest of the winter.  Then, it started to snow.  It was one of our biggest snowfalls of the winter.  By the time we'd dug ourselves out and I remembered the drey, it was buried.  Better to let it wait for spring than chance damaging it digging it out. 

 

With winter mostly gone, once again I was out picking up.  There in the garden, a little misshapen, but still intact, it sat.

Look at the layers of leaves, only veins remaining, making a wonderfully complex web, leaf netting.  Inside, more and more layers, I'm thinking it rather snug.

A drey (or grey squirrel nest) doesn't go unused for long.  If an occupant vacates, another may consider it a fixer upper and move on in. 

*

ps. I know it is Thursday, but this didn't get posted in time, making it a Wednesday – Thursday kind of entry.