Week 10 already! Where on earth is the time going?!
Though it’s been a bit on the dull side weather-wise this week, having some consistent, dry days has been appreciated. It makes walking in the mornings and evenings so much more enjoyable and it meant I didn’t have to relearn any lessons about staying dry (or getting wet!) from last week!
Highlights this week include:
🌿 Enjoying more of the sights and sounds of the countryside
🌷 Learning more about the garden and wellbeing
🐥 Getting to know some more bird songs
🦋 Spotting my first butterflies of the year!
Thank you for reading and enjoy 😊
Monday 15th March 2021
I had a nice walk in the evening sunshine today. Rather than go on the roads, I decided to chance the meadow – it’s been a lot less muddy through the fields recently. It was a nice way to end the day and clear my head. There were a couple of (very noisy!) standout moments on the walk:
1) The fieldfares yapping away in a tree by the River Stour.
2) The very loud rooks squawking away at the top of Honington (see video!)
Tuesday 16th March 2021
I’ve been making sure to water the garden more these days and I’ve noticed that one of our creepers has started to flower. This will be our second spring in this house so I don’t feel I know all of the plants properly yet. I’ve definitely looked this creeper up before but I always forget so I had another little google today. Apparently it’s a Clematis armandii and it flowers from March to April.
Wednesday 17th March 2021
It was time for another encounter with Lucy Lapwing today. The bird song lessons I listened to today were the: wren, song thrush and mistle thrush. I found the wren lesson particularly useful. I have 100% heard this call in the hedgerows on walks but I hadn’t realised for a second that it was a wren. It’s such a loud song and, at 7-12g in weight, it apparently has the highest decibel:gram ratio of any bird!
Thursday 18th March 2021
I picked up a book today that’s been sitting on my shelf for quite a while. I’m a slow reader but I do enjoy a good book so the house is full of books that I haven’t gotten around to yet. This book was given to me by a very close friend. It’s called The Well Gardened Mind: Rediscovering Nature in the Modern World and it’s by a psychiatrist/psychotherapist called Sue Stuart-Smith.
As soon as I started reading the first couple of pages, I realised how poignant this moment was. Within the first few paragraphs, Stuart-Smith spoke about loss and grief, along with the benefits of gardening on mental health and wellbeing. It goes without saying that it really resonated with me. So I’m looking forward to reading more of her stories and putting some of her advice into practice.
Friday 19th March 2021
Another walk today and this one was all about the frantic pheasants. I saw a very large male pheasant with three females in one field and then saw a male and female glide out of a bit of scrubland near the river in Honington. The first four were actually reasonably calm but I think that’s because I approached very quietly. I wanted to try and take a photo without them scrambling away.
The other pair, though. Well, what can I say. I was absolutely nowhere near them. No one was. They were on a bit of land away from the road that doesn’t have public access. So I’m not sure what spooked them. I heard them first – the male letting out his bizarre cry – and then swoooosh, they glided straight across the river over a bit of field and straight into the middle of the road. If they were trying to avoid my attention, they didn’t do a good job. Why pheasants. Just why.
Saturday 20th March 2021
I just had to share photos of some lambs today. We spotted these while walking south out of Shipston to a little village called Burmington. They were very close to the gate and looked like they were going to run off as soon as we started to approach. But they just didn’t want to stop playing on the gravel! Some of them looked pretty young as well. Very cute!
Sunday 21st March 2021
I found this furry catkin on another walk today. I’ve written about catkins before and I think I know my alders and my hazels now. But I didn’t have a clue about this one – it was so furry and the tree was absolutely brimming with them. After a little bit of research, I think this catkin is from a goat willow. The male catkins of this tree are silvery-grey at first and then turn yellow when ripe – I think that’s what this little guy was doing before he fell to the floor!
Oh and just as a side note to finish the week, I saw two brimstone butterflies this morning on the way back from our walk. Their beautiful yellow wings are another sign of warmer days and brighter skies!
Ramblings of a (very!) amateur artist 