Page 32 - May 2020 parish mag_Classical

Spring Nature Notes
With the herald of Spring, what a ramp of birdsong we are waking up to (or being
woken up by depending on which side of the fence you are on). Our main thoughts
in this climate of uncertainty are, what are we going to eat, and what form of
exercise are we going to perform today.
More of us are venturing out, walking in our pretty lanes greeting one another in
all of our cheery social loveliness (as well as social distancing of course) and,
instead of galloping past, our thoughts busily
engaged, noticing the hedgerows and banks
bursting into life after a long Winter. Celandine,
Cow Parsley, Violets, Neon Dandelions and
Daffodils, butterflies and bees, as well as
promiscuous Primroses with muddied colours,
created after migrating from the grasp of supervised
gardening.
The newly placed bird boxes in the community orchard and cricket ground are
being busily employed, with birds taking in swatches of soft furnishings of moss,
leaves, cobwebs and downy feathers. Providing a comfy spot to raise the kids!
Don’t forget to look up to the sky to spot the first migrants to arrive. Some travel
over 12 000 miles and weigh a mere 18g!
The bug hotel in the community orchard still looks a bit like an unfinished
apartment block! So, if grown-ups or children would like to give nature a hand,
you are invited to add bundles of sticks or canes tied with string or wool, just
poke them in the gaps to provide critters a safe home. The flowers in the grass
are beginning to populate too, with lots more varieties self-seeding. Do something
different: stand or kneel and look at a square metre (no-one will think you are
bonkers) and see how many varieties you can spy. Take a field book with you.
You might get hooked!
Some of you may have noticed the newly planted trees at the village entrances.
These are Rowans (Sorbus Hupehensis) and Cherries (Prunus Tai Haku). This
tree was lost to cultivation in Japan around 1700 but revived from a single tree
found in Sussex in 1923. There are some of the newly planted daffodils showing
their glorious colours too.

32