Let's Get On With It!
Early signs of Spring
It’s not even February, yet there is frogspawn in one of our ponds. Despite the temperature being in single figures, with a gale howling up from the Atlantic and rain pelting down from low cloud. The ponds even froze only a week or so ago.
Yet, once Christmas is over, it seems that creatures want to get the winter over and start mating. The jackdaws have arrived back – we can hear their chattering above everything else, and it sounds like you are in the middle of an aviary at feeding time.
They’ve spent the winter swooping over the fields with lots of other crow species (hooded crows, rooks, as well as starlings) in huge flocks that darkened the sky. And now they’ve all started lining up on the power lines in pairs, ready to begin shoving sticks down our chimneys as they try to build nests. We had wire cages put over them to prevent this, but the birds have ripped holes in them, bending back the wire to gain access.
Luckily, there are plenty of old farm buildings and derelict cottages in the area, as well as a small woodland down the valley, so they will be able to nest even if they can’t get into our chimneys.
Well, February 1 is the first day of Imbolg, the Celtic first day of Spring. So come on weather, let’s get on with it and bring some sunshine!