Early Spring 2010

There is a certain stillness at the moment, a feeling of quiet anticipation as nature pauses before the real awakening of spring. Leaf buds are forming and hazel bushes are draped with yellow ‘lambs tails’ which give off clouds of dusty pollen in the slight breeze. With last years vegetation now clear, fox and badger trails can be seen beneath the hedgerow with much of the grass verge disturbed by the work of the badgers digging for worms and grubs. The snowdrops, now at their peak have been joined by the bright yellow of celandines with the first shoots of wild garlic as a backdrop. Beneath the thick tangle of twigs and branches, amongst the litter and secreted in old stumps can be found the remains of many meals enjoyed by the hedgerow residents. Hazel kernels and other seeds gnawed open by mice and voles, snail shells smashed by thrushes and acorns split by hungry squirrels.
Old nests are now visible, deep amongst the leafless bushes as the song of their previous residents gather pace with the impending season. Blackbirds and song thrush are particularly vocal with yellow hammers making their first tentative attempts at song. Chaffinch and robin compete for ‘air-time’. A great spotted woodpecker bounds across the allotments and the barn owl can be seen regularly hunting along the road into the village.
There is no skylark yet. But soon, and then spring really will be in the air.