Spring wildlife

Early morning reflections in Moelfre Lake

Well, the blogs are getting fewer and further apart! I always suspected that this would happen when I stopped travelling around so much, but I still find it disappointing that I seem uninspired to write much these days.

Snow!

Way back, at the very end of February, I set off to Moelfre on the Powys/Shropshire border, stopping at lunchtime at my favourite French restaurant at Shatterford (funny how I seem to arrive there at lunchtimes!). It is not quite at the halfway point, but has proven, over the years, to be a very good place to stop and have a break. I hadn't been this far north this early in the year before and I did wonder what the weather would have in store for me, so I packed loads of winter clothes (including thermal underwear) so that I could layer up against the cold. The weather started off being very wet and windy but, the day after Dawn and Tony left for Brittany it snowed! As it had been raining when I first woke up I didn't think it would settle but, as the day wore on and the snow kept falling it soon became obvious that it was settling. In the end we had about 1 inch of snow but it soon thawed and went back to being wet and windy!

Exhausted juvenile otter

Before Dawn went away, we had a morning out in Oswestry getting in supplies and enjoying a leisurely lunch in a vegan restaurant, before dropping in on a local lady who runs an organic grocery shop from her home. We bought bread fresh from the oven and Bara Brith amongst other things and then Eiriann said: 'I've got an otter in the conservatory – would you like to see it?' It was a juvenile in a very sorry state, huddled in a cardboard box and had been found outside the conservatory door that afternoon, crying piteously. It turned out that another youngster had been found a bit further down the road (and nearer to the stream) that morning and taken to the vets in Oswestry who, in turn, passed it on to a specialist rescue centre. No-one knows what had happened to the mum, but it had been an exceptionally wet and stormy night, so perhaps they had been swept away? I didn't realise that young otters are dependent on their mothers for thirteen months, so this was a disaste,r as they couldn't fend for themselves. Once Dawn returned, we went to see Eiriann again and found out that the siblings had been re-united and were doing well – hopefully they will be returned to the area when they are fit enough to be released.

I know I've said this before, but the peace and quiet in the valley is exceptional, and the number of birds, frequenting the feeders outside the dining room window, stunning in quantity and variety. At Dawn's request, I tried to make a list of all the birds that I have seen, either in the garden or flying over, and came up with at least 34! Added to the list this time, was a lone red kite who flew over most days – I wonder if it will be joined by a mate soon? One morning, on the niger seed feeder, I counted nine goldfinches and there were often two or three siskins waiting their turn. I felt very inspired by all this bird activity and decided to add a needle-felted nuthatch to my repertoire!

Needle-felted nuthatch

On the day before Dawn and Tony came home, Jeni travelled up by train to spend some time with me. The weather had improved so dramatically by then, that we worked in the garden in just T-shirts – very different from 10 days earlier! We then we travelled back to Somerset together (stopping at Shatterford for lunch, surprisingly!) It was a gorgeous, sunny day without a cloud in the sky, and I didn't feel like driving on the motorway so, with The Navigator plotting the route, we headed off towards Evesham, up the Cotswold scarp to Broadway and then south through Cirencester and Tetbury on my usual route back from Cheltenham. It was a lovely drive but it took hours – we only just made it back in time for our Pilates class!

I had missed two Friday markets while I had been away, but had been working on some new items for my stall as, on March 19^th, we held the first of our monthly Sunday Markets, as well. It was really busy, but I didn't sell as much as I'd hoped and nowhere near the amount of the inaugural market back in November, but it was great to see so much activity in the town. I dusted off the spinning wheel and it made its first appearance of the year, much to the interest of several passers-by.

March Sunday Market

On 30^th March, I finally went back to Cheltenham to finish off the decorating of the little bedroom that I had started early in February! Mum was away for most of my stay but had provided me with several ready meals, so that I wouldn't have to do too much catering. Luckily, this time the decorating went quite well and I even managed to lay a new piece of carpet before I left, so that the room was all finished and furnished for when Mum came home – just as well as she is due to have a house full over Easter and will need all of the bedrooms.

And, finally, our swallows returned from Africa on 4^th April and are already busy building nests in the outhouses opposite my annexe. When they're not busy, they sit on the wire and 'chitter' conversationally – I'm sure they are trying to tell me of all their adventures since I last saw them. Every year I look for their arrival as I feel that Summer is really on its way, once they are back.