PREPARING FOR THE CUCKOO

One of the first woodland plants to push up out of the ground in spring.

The arrowhead leaves of Cuckoo Pint.

It's also a garden plant in my garden, popping up all over the unmown lawn and in the flower beds.  Not so welcome there but quite difficult to eradicate as the roots go deep.

BTW I haven't heard a cuckoo in Thornbury for decades.

Photo: Chris Romeiks

In April come she will

In May she comes to stay

In June she changes her tune

In July she prepares to fly

In August go she must

 

TEACHER BIRD

It was sunny least Friday and there was more bird activity.  

I heard several of these great tits calling. 

They have lots of calls but the typical song sounds a bit like 'teechah teechah teechah'.

More signs of spring.

I've also seen robins in pairs.  

In winter they are solitary but after Valentin's Day . . . .

 

GORSE

'When gorse is out of bloom, kissing's out of fashion'

Caught this gorse plant in the Leisure Centre car park on my way to Filnore Woods today.

FROZEN POND

I was hoping to find some frogs in our pond, 

getting ready to mate and produce some frogspawn.

But, as you can see, it was frozen over and rather murky.

Maybe it will be a bit more inviting for them now that Valentine's Day has passed and the ice is thawing.

 

A DROP OF SNOW AT FILNORE

  

In the new plantation I spotted four clumps of snowdrops in bloom

 

White for winter and green for spring.

SYCAMORE IN WINTER

Two ways to recognise sycamore trees in winter:

(1)  The buds are green all through winter.  So are lilac buds - but lilac is only ever a bush or small tree.  And a rarer tree, the wild service has green buds but they are arranged alternately along the shoot while sycamore buds occur in opposite pairs.

Here are some sycamore twigs in a jam jar

(2) On a mature tree, at a distance, the top edge of the crown is a curved line with all the twigs ending at the same level.  Most other trees have more of a shaggy outline.

 

BLACKBIRD

I wouldn't have noticed this blackbird in a butchered tree top 

if it hadn't been singing its fluty song. 

Expect more birdsong as spring approaches

Listen to these

Blackbird songs and calls

from Maurice Baker

 

Catkins

The golden catkins of hazel are a familiar sight 

at this time of the year.

But look out for the purply-red catkins on alder trees

You can always tell alders because they carry not only the catkins but also last year's little conelets in bunches.  

There are three species of alder found in this country: the grey alder with more silvery bark, the Italian alder which has much bigger conelets and our native common alder. 

On a sunny day in winter the conelets show up a bright chestnut brown

You can tell common alders from their very vertical shape and their tolerance of wet conditions alongside streams.  When they are growing in a wiggly line across the landscape you can be sure there is a stream there.