Nature Diary #5

Yellow Archangel

And so, here in the South West, the good weather continues, and I continue to go for a walk when I can. Because of the hot weather – it can’t really be called warm, now! – a lot of the spring flowers are going over almost before they’ve made their presence felt. The lovely windflowers that I spotted on a grass verge last week have been overtaken by the growth of grass, cow parsley and hogweed – it’s the turn of the big, tall boys now! The Lords & Ladies (wild arum lily) are now in flower and I spotted a clump of Yellow Archangel in the hedge bottom, too.

The blackthorn blossom is all but gone, but has been swiftly replaced by hawthorn blooms, and all the hedges are in full, green leaf. The air is filled with a subtle, but distinct, perfume that I always associate with Spring - it could be the scent of the hawthorn or the Queen Anne's Lace or a heady mixture of the two.

Flower spike of Lords and Ladies

My Evercreech walk

This week my longest walk, on Tuesday, took me to Evercreech, but there were too many people walking about in the village and I got quite anxious as I had to keep slowing my pace to remain 2m away or crossing over to avoid them – far more stressful than meandering along empty country lanes and footpaths! I walked past my friend’s smallholding and stopped for a quick chat to check that she was OK, as she is self-isolating due to respiratory issues. She says that she hasn’t really noticed much change in her day-to-day life, except that more people are offering to help her get shopping, etc! I’m guessing that a lot of smallholders and farmers feel the same – they’ve been self-isolating for years! 😊

By the time I was on my way back from Evercreech, I was fed up with walking on tarmac so, at the aptly named Elbow Corner, I struck off across the fields, on a footpath that used to go along the side of the Somerset & Dorset Railway. The house at Elbow Corner used to be the crossing keeper’s cottage for the railway that crossed the lane at this point. The footpath goes straight through the middle of a grass field and between the two groups of solar panels before going over a stile and heading towards the main A37. The grass in this huge field is now getting quite long and is very tiring to walk through so when, later in the week, I went back to Cathie’s to get some dandelion flowers for dyeing some wool, I went the long way round by the lane.

Two roe deer - look for the white rumps!

However, on Tuesday I spotted two hares in this field (and another two on Friday) and, just after I climbed over the stile, another one! I had no idea, until this year, that there were any hares in this area and now I see at least one whenever I go out recently. They are such a treat to see, but take off so fast that I have been unable to get a photo, yet. I walked around the edge of the next field, along the bank of the Whitelake stream (now a very much reduced trickle) and startled three roe deer that had obviously been lying up in the brambly growth on the other bank, and another hare! They streaked off across the newly sown field, white rump patches bobbing up and down, and disappeared into the hedgerow on the other side. I disturbed them again on Friday and took a very long distance shot, as they bounced across the field. I’m pretty sure that the bigger two were a male and a female.

There have definitely been more butterflies emerging too, as I have seen more Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tips, Speckled Wood, a tiny blue butterfly and a small white butterfly that could have been a Small White, a Green-veined White or a female Orange Tip! Annoyingly, I see a lot of these but it is impossible to identify them when they are on the wing.

Small Tortoiseshell

Speckled Wood

There is a lot of birdsong in the early mornings, most of which I can’t identify, and even when I go out later in the day, the skylark rarely lets me down. However, our returned male swallow, although investigating the traditional nesting sites at close quarters i.e. flying in and out of the barn and the porch area, still seems to be on his own. This seems unusual, as the rest of the gang are normally only a week behind him, and it is now more than three weeks since I first spotted him. Hopefully, I will be able to bring you news of their arrival soon.

Hawthorn blossom