Early Summer

May


Early summer has turned the landscape into an emerald vista of fresh green leaves and grasses interspersed with carpets of bluebells that festoon the shady banks and hedgerows. They compliment the bright yellow clumps of primroses and the emerging bright white star-like flowers of the greater stitchwort. On the woodland edge you can catch the pungent aroma of wild garlic whilst straining to hear that elusive cuckoo further along the valley. Bugle, dog violets, speedwell and red campion all add to natures palette of colour.
The morning is full of birdsong as the dawn chorus reaches its peak and the sky once again rings to the screeches of swifts alongside swallows and martins pursuing insects on the wing.
The first ducklings have arrived on the village pond along with the first young of the resident pied wagtails. Another visitor to the pond is a grey wagtail who darts at insects from the damp margins, using the exposed rocks as a launch pad.
Keep a close eye on the rooftops and you will see starlings and sparrows taking beakfuls of food to their young in nests under the eaves. You can here the explosion of sound from many young mouths as the parent arrives.
Take a short walk after dinner and see if you can see the tawny owl in the trees around the church usually pinpointed by the scolding calls of blackbirds and then stroll along the lane behind the village. You may spot the fox cubs that have begun to venture out and the roe deer often seen at dusk. You will certainly enjoy the countryside at its best.