|
|
|
NATURE NOTES
Something wonderful has happened on the Uckfield line!! Some amazing person or persons has planted daffodils in the cutting just before you arrive at East Croydon. As the train roars into the station you see a flash of yellow light, and then a host of golden daffodils. It is enough to restore your faith in humanity. Praise be and halleluiah to those people.
Other things are happening too. Nature is stirring all along the track. It is spring and everything is coming up so fast you can almost see it growing. Wood anemones are sparkling like the Milky Way in patches of ancient woodland; brambles and briars put out green spears of hope; spires of dog’s mercury are everywhere greening the dun coloured earth alongside the train-track. Nature is taking its revenge on those who violently cut back the trees and strew their litter.
Here at Fox & Angel we are busy with our camera, recording everything as it comes. My own garden here on the Ashdown Forest has been immortalised by Mike McCarthy, environment correspondent of The Independent, in his important new book on bird migration, “Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo”. Twelve months after he was here all the same flowers are out once more:
In her garden Julia has gathered together and intensified everything that is happening with the flowers of the forest: she has bluebells and primrose too, and also ransoms, the white stars of wild garlic, while beneath the blossom of her apple tress cowslips glisten in the grass.
Mike is also spear-heading a butterfly-watch which we are taking part in, (see independent.co.uk/britishbutterflies). Perhaps due to the cold winter butterflies are late; sometimes in this part of Sussex they can be seen as early as January, but this year the brimstones had to wait until March for a west wind and the first days of warm sunshine.
There have been peacock butterflies opening and shutting their distinctive wings and bumble bees buzzing. Bumble bees are said to be endangered so their return is both reassuring and life-affirming. The fritillary meadow which I planted ten years ago has spread under the apple trees, as have my cowslips; both these started from just a few plants but have seeded themselves in the orchard, and have even escaped to the forest. (My cats may have caught quite a few birds before they became old and fat but now they are good at spreading seed as they roll in the grass and then stalk importantly about).
Gardens of all kinds are essential for wildlife now that farming has become so hostile to nature; at least the species that can survive in this kind of sheltered mixed habitat are given a sporting chance. Let’s hope for a sweltering hot summer. Last year was bad for flying; usually my garden is a veritable Piccadilly Circus for bats and moths circling in the dark, sometimes batting blindly into the lighted house but last year nothing. The crickets have always arrived on the dot of August 1st chirping cheerily in the flower beds and the long grass. They climb the wisteria and march their green legs across the bedroom ceilings. Last summer there was total silence and no acrobatics; they were simply washed away.
This year Fox & Angel is praying for the restoration of the natural cycles of rain and sun so that butterflies and moths can restore their numbers. We are all part of the same universe, if they go down, we will go with them. We must connect to this fact.
This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 8:25 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.