I am fortunate enough to have an allotment, and even more fortunate that allotments are still open, so I have been spending time there during lock down. Well not just a cabbage patch, the hope is that many useful and tasty varieties of vegetables will be grown here this year. A quiet place where it is easy to be socially distant, everyone being very careful to maintain the 2/3mtr recommendation, the resident robin however is not up to date with the social distancing rules.
As I dig, hoe, rake and weed on a warm sunny day there are many butterflies flitting around, all looking stunningly pristine, peacock, small tortoise shell, comma, small white, large white even brimstone, and this week (2nd in April) saw the first orange tips venture onto the scene.
Overhead buzzards can be heard mewing as they soar over the tree tops on the bank or get into a squabble with the resident crows. Red kites circle silently scouring the area for prey, unlike the pair of oyster catchers who have to let their presence be known whenever they pass by as do the geese that fly up and down the river valley. Rook, crow, magpie, jackdaw and jay, are constantly and noisily squabbling over territory, the wood pigeon meanwhile gets on with life waiting for all the lovely juicy berries and plants to grow so that they can feast greedily, taking the pick of the crop from any unwary gardener who does not put up protective netting against them.
In the woodland the blue bells are just flowering after a beautiful show of celandine and wood anemone. From the woodland other birds can be heard if not always seen, a spotted woodpecker drumming and occasionally the yaffle of a green woodpecker. For a few days now the chiffchaff has been proclaiming its arrival, while to the back drop of numerous other woodland dwellers a thrush perches atop a tree singing tirelessly at the top of its voice. And of course, the ever present opportunist, the robin, either singing in the hedge or picking for grubs where some gardener is tuning the soil providing a ‘fly through’ take away snack.
On the allotment daffodil and tulip flower flamboyant in yellow, red and orange, contrasting with the deeper blue than you have ever seen before forget-me-nots, and, in another couple of days the red campion, in the wild flower area, will add its brilliant pink to the palette.
The vegetable beds of bare soil are weeded raked and ready for the season and in the poly tunnel seeds are germinating and growing on ready for planting out after the frosts have passed. Several huge bumble bees bump around in the poly tunnel, tapping against the cover until they find their way out side again, although I suspect they may prefer the warmth inside.
The warm sun has also enticed out the bees from the local hives further up the site, eager to explore the world and find food sources from the spring flowers and all important tree flowers. The leaf buds too are beginning to unfurl, gradually turning the woodland a delicate green.
My apologies to any of our local resident or visiting species I haven’t mentioned by name you are all part of the rich ecology and valued for you contribution to the part you play in making our patch such a diverse and pleasant place to be.
There is nothing new or unusual but that doesn’t really matter because now we do have time to stand and stare we can enjoy and appreciate it all anew and for a while forget some of the care.
Sue N