Tag Archive | spring

Sunday stroll: a Wiltshire wood

Apr20

We went for a walk last Sunday (April 17) in some woods in south Wiltshire. A lone sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) and a lone rowan (mountain ash, Sorbus sp.) were already in leaf; the rest of the trees were still leafless, but budding up nicely. There are a lot of holly and birch trees in these woods; we don’t have birch around where we live as they don’t do well on chalk.

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Rowan in leaf (Sorbus sp.)

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), also known as Woodbine, showing why it has the latter name ...

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), also known as Woodbine, showing why it has the latter name …

The first bluebells are out, plus wood anenomes, celandine, stitchwort and pink campion, and we came across a few clumps of daffodils too.

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Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta).

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A bank of wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa).

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Celandine (Ficaria verna).

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Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea).

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Daffodils. They look a little large to me to be our native wild ones: there are gardens nearby so these could be hybrids.

We disturbed a buzzard (Buteo buteo) from its perching spot in a tree above us, and found a hidden trig point.

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We also saw a lone roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) hoof print in the mud. Old Peg Leg, they call him.

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There were some heavily pregnant sheep in a neighbouring field: they looked like they were due to lamb at any time.IMG_2304

I also found a pellet, not sure if it’s an owl or other raptor pellet, or fox poo or badger poo. I’ve brought it home and am dissolving it in water to see what it contains. A girl’s got to have her hobbies ….

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(UPDATE: Lots of mashed up hedgehog spines 🙁 Possibly badger poo?)

It was a lovely day in glorious spring sunshine. And as an added bonus, on the way home, we saw the first swallow (Hirundo rustica) of the season. Magical.

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Glorious Wiltshire (seen over a pile of horse manure).

Signs of spring: the first chaffinch song

Feb13

I love the markers of the year’s advance, a series of firsts leading to full-blown spring and glorious summer. One of the earliest markers that spring has truly arrived is when our pond starts roiling with mating frogs. That happened two weekends ago. Today I heard another marker: the first spring song of the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs).

Male chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs). Photo by Gidzy.

Male chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs). Photo by Gidzy.

We have chaffinches here year-round, but it is only in the spring that they sing this glorious descending song. I associate it with walks in the beech woods with the acid-green leaves bursting out of their buds. It’s not the most exciting of bird songs, but it is one of the most redolent ones for me. It means the sun is on its way back to us.

What I’m dreaming of …

Jan21

It’s such a cold, damp, dismal day today (as Chap and I like to call it: A ‘Grade A’ Grey Day) that I thought I’d post something to cheer myself up.

Here’s a bluebell wood near us, taken on 4 May 2009:

A bluebell wood in Wiltshire, 4 May 2009.

A bluebell wood in Wiltshire, 4 May 2009. The beech and hazel leaves are just coming out on the trees.

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So pretty. The big old tree is a mighty oak.

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Coppiced hazels with bluebells growing underneath.

And here’s our tiny garden, taken on 21 May 2009:

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Sunny days in an English country garden, 21 May 2009.

It’s hard to picture the garden like this right now, when all is black and grey and dingy out there, but things are stirring already—the snowdrops are nearly out and there are buds on the pulmonaria. And once spring gets going, it yomps along. So not long now ’til the walks in the bluebell woods that I so love!

Our visitor the fieldfare is still with us—24 days now. His apple supply is fast turning brown, so I think we need to buy some more to lob over into the secret garden to keep him with us for a bit longer.