Spring at last?

 

Amazing Periwinkle (see below)

Last Sunday afternoon, as it was bright and sunny, Jeni and I decided to meet up for a walk. We were going to do a longer version of the wintry walk that we had done back in March, starting at her house and walking towards Wells on footpaths and bridleways. As we set off we realised that the warmth engendered by the bright sunshine was illusory, the wind was very keen and we were probably not wearing quite enough clothing but, being intrepid (!) we were determined to ‘tough it out’. However, it wasn’t long before Jeni had a phone call from her partner, who had gone mountain biking with a friend, to say that his bike had broken, he was coming home earlier than intended and he hadn’t got a house key! Reluctantly, we turned for home and retraced our steps but we were glad that we did as suddenly the wind got up, the sun hid behind a bank of ominously dark clouds and, first of all, we were pelted with soft hail and then it snowed! Within half an hour we were back at Jeni’s, the sun came out again and we were able to sit in the garden with a cup of tea! Really weird weather.

This weekend a friend asked if I could feed and let out her chickens for a couple of days. Her smallholding is about a mile away across the fields so it seemed a good opportunity to get some exercise. Both mornings have been bright and sunny so I left home at about 8.00am and went off across the fields behind the house. There was a slight frost on both mornings, but the grass was mainly wet (I discovered that my ‘waterproof’ walking boots, aren’t!). The fields that had fodder beans planted last year were sown with spring wheat about three weeks ago but it has been so dry that there is no sign of the seed germinating yet. Large flocks of rooks rose into the air as I approached, cawing anxiously to one another – I don’t suppose they see a human out there very often at that time of day. There were skylarks up above me singing joyfully and one took off from only a few feet away from me before soaring heavenwards in full song.

a very blurry hare!

As I approached the furthest of the newly sown fields I saw two hares lolloping away from me, but was only able to get a very long distance shot of one of them. There were other hares about in the grassy fields further on, but they kept a low profile as I walked around the field perimeter. The hedgerows were alive with the rustling of small birds but I was only able to identify chaffinch, great tit, blue tit, dunnock, blackbirds and wrens. Some of the wrens serenaded me, with their beautiful song, from the tops of the hedges as I wandered by whilst others scolded me like mini Geiger counters being approached by highly radioactive material!

As well as letting out the hens, collecting eggs and checking food and water levels, I was also in charge of feeding and watering six Kune Kune pigs. Technically, these belong to the local animal rescue charity, who supply their feed and bedding and, originally there were only three but these have been joined recently by another three. They are all related but do not get on so, a couple of weeks ago, I helped divide the paddock in half so there are now two groups of three and peace has been restored. The best way to feed them seems to be to stand at the dividing line and hurl a scoop into one pen followed swiftly by a scoop into the other pen, alternating until all the feed has been distributed – this stops the possibility of one group storming the barricades to get at the other pigs’ food!

Kune Kune pigs

This morning I came home a different way (yesterday I came home along the lane) by crossing a couple of fields that had maize in them last year. The fields have obviously been sprayed with weedkiller and then top-dressed with slurry before they are replanted with a crop for this year. Because of the dry weather, the manure has formed a hard layer over the soil and I was able to walk across it quite easily. In the first field was a range of old farm buildings that I hadn’t explored before, at first I thought it might be an old cottage but, on closer inspection I think it was always meant for animal accommodation. I then continued across the next field, past the barn owl barn, and out onto the lane. By this time it was about 9.30 and I had removed my outer layer and a fleece and was still too hot walking along in my long-sleeved T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up – such a contrast to last Sunday!

Do you think it's a 'doer-upper'?

I think we can safely say that Spring is now here and we have entered the blue-and-white phase of the Spring wildflowers. There are still lots of yellow flowers about in the celandines and dandelions, but more and more white and blue/purple flowers are emerging: there are the first bluebells nodding in the hedge bottoms along with ground ivy and tiny violets as well as white dead nettle, wood anemone, wild garlic and comfrey. In places, there are patches of periwinkle, which is not a native plant (how many really are?) but has naturalised in many parts of Britain, mainly in the south. This plant, although invasive in the garden, holds a special place in my heart as it played a part in saving Jeni’s life when she contracted Hodgkin’s Lymphoma as a fourteen-year-old. Both the chemotherapy drugs, Vincristine and Vinblastine, are derived from periwinkle and both of these were used, in two different drug combinations, to treat her. Our ‘wise women’, centuries ago, probably knew a lot more about the beneficial properties of plants, before they were burned at the stake and their knowledge consigned to history! Did you know, for instance, that the clippings from the yew hedges at Chirk Castle in North Wales go to making the widely-used chemotherapy drug, Tamoxifen? And, of course, aspirin was originally derived from willow and meadowsweet. What amazing things plants are!

Ground Ivy

Wood anemones

violet

Soft Comfrey

The weather is looking dry and warm for the next week, at least, so I shall have to remember to include sunscreen in my gardening paraphernalia and take a bottle of water and, more importantly, remember to drink it!!

Wych Elm seeds

Alien-like male flowers of Butterbur