Spring observations, nature notes in lockdown
An entire season in lockdown.
Nature on my doorstep took on a new meaning - incredibly grateful for the day-to-day changes I was able to experience and observe at a time when landscapes shrunk to a 30-minute walking radius.
24.3.20 First day of lockdown, first full day back home after my time at Blackhills. The world has changed and there is huge reassurance in seeing the river flow as it always does.
25.3.20 Fragments of a pale green heron eggshell under a nest. Warm, still, spring sun. Little gulls flying close to the surface to catch little somethings. Have never seen them this far inland before. Wood anemone in bloom, bees buzzing! They seem to love the nectar of the currant-like shrub at the back of the garden.
26.3.20 Out for morning and evening golden hour, burn babbling, a starling chattering. Kingfisher zoomed along the river’s surface just in front of larch beach! First larch blooms today, little pineapples.
27.3.20 Cold, damp - not the kind of weather that makes you feel inspired to go outside. I put on a jacket and got out, felt good anyways.
30.3.20 Beautiful noon walk today, sun so much higher, forest floor lush with wild garlic. Pungent. Man walking his dog saw three otters this morning!
31.3.20 Bright morning, long shadows, wood anemone still sleeping.
1.4.20 Turned right to go along a less well-trodden path and saw a kingfisher zoom along close to the bank. It always feels so special to see one - so fast and so blue. Walking back along our usual path I saw a bright blue splotch on a low branch above the burn. It was so blue I thought it was a piece of plastic caught in the tree. How sad that I assumed it was plastic! But then it zoomed off! Following the curve of the burn, close to the surface! I squealed. Have never seen the blue of his/her back so clearly.
2.4.20 Jackdaw chick chirping in the chimney this morning! Morning walk, gorgeous sun, sound of wind feels novel. Willow buds turning willow green from golden yellow. First bracken fronds tightly furled. River is low, sun dancing in the iron-y shallows.
5.4.20 Terry saw three otters on his run this morning!! Longer walk this morning, warm air and strong wind from the east. White horses rolling opposite the current. Mysterious bright spring green flowers on an unknown tree - almost cherry-like. Sycamore buds like a chrysalis, holding fully-formed miniature leaves inside. Sitting outside at sunset, summer camping weather. Bees are buzzing on the goat willow at the back of the garden.
6.4.20 It’s getting much harder to see through the woods. Everyday so much more green.
11.4.20 River is so low, can barely feel the current run between my fingers. Found a brick worn by the burn on the bank.
12.4.20 After so many warm, sunny days, the dark grey sky feels good. Heron overhead, three loud geese. Still couldn’t see any flow to the river. Wind picked up and early cherry blooms drifted down in the woods.
14.4.20 Two greylag geese floating downstream with a lone pochard or a female goosander, not sure. First orange tip butterfly I’ve seen, emerged from its winter chrysalis.
15.4.20 Five male pochards or five female goosanders? Squawk of little gulls has replaced the strange noises of the herons - where have they gone? First walk along the river at sunset in the spring. Still, warm. River keeps flowing and there are so many bats! I love the elm’s pompom seeds and the way the small, new hazel leaves hang on their branches. There’s something delicate and sweet about them.
17.4.20 Cool overcast day. Ate a pignut! Primrose, greater stitchwort, first bluebells. Pale yellow of the primrose was the palest and sweetest of yellows. Five or six of the goosanders or pochards flew by - they were so quiet and fast. Stealthy birds!
18.4.20 Realized what the yellow primrose remind me of - lemon sherbert! River nearly at a standstill, it is so low. The only way to see the flow is if you see a leaf or a feather or a something floating by on the surface. Can’t see it in the water. Sat on a boulder in the river, would usually be well under water and I watched some sort of fly jump along the surface, getting snatched up by little fish. Stream of ochre sludge just behind it, forming an orange puddle. Must bring a little jar with me tomorrow.
19.4.20 Forgot to bring a jar - tomorrow! We are getting tricked by the hazel and elm. Trees we though were definitely hazel are now young elm. Finding it tricky to identify some of them now. Also this mystery pochard/goosander - I really don’t know…but one was floating by him/herself today. Another heron shell on the ground under a Scots pine. I wonder if they’ve all hatched? Saw a heron in the burn who then flew through the woods. A heron flying through the woods, how beautiful.
21.4.20 The wind has blown from the east for so many days - anyone looking at the surface of the river would think it’s changed its direction. Damn, forgot the jar again.
22.4.20 Distance in the woods is really closing in, closing in with all the brightest shades of green. Finally remembered a jar and collected a small amount of ochre sludge. Sat on a boulder in the river for a bit, warm sun on my back.
23.4.20 Perfectly still, sunny, gorgeous day. A slight breeze blew through young, paper-thin sycamore leaves. The first sound of wind through leaves I’ve heard since autumn. I’ve missed it.
24.4.20 Purples of bluebells and dog violet, blues of some flower whose genus sounds like Minnesota but I don’t know the name. An orange tip floats lazily by.
25.4.20 A longer walk today, down a slope to a small beach we haven’t visited before. Sand in shoes, river bends so that the sun is on your face. So still you’d think it was a lake. Turning back, avoiding people by standing in ivy and pignuts. A heron perched on the smallest bit of rock peeking above the surface. Followed the small burn around the bend and found an old brick and small swimming holes that looked inviting.
29.4.20 The glow of the elm pompom seed clusters must be one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen. So bright and delicate, they look illuminated. Beech are at different stages along the river, some spiky buds, some tiny, soft, fuzzy, papery leaves, some a bit bigger but still so thin and soft and gorgeous when the light catches and you see through one to the one behind it. Swallows are back for the summer! Oh how I love swallows, flitting and diving, eating on the wing. Dark clouds felt good today, rich color of nettles reflected in the inky water.
3.5.20 Found a beautiful, delicate wasp nest on the path, I nearly stepped on it. One side broken open, a little lid for the top next to it like a spilled cookie jar. Two feet away, a quiet little egg shell, or half of one. Bright blue. First thought was of a robin’s egg, but of course, “robin egg blue” is a Crayola crayon color for American robins. Think it may be a dunnock’s shell. In any case, it is beautiful.
5.5.20 Found another egg today but this one was much bigger, a buff creamy color. Broken open on one side, yolk bright yellow inside.
6.5.20 Full moon nearly at perigee, rising against a periwinkle sky. So clear! Bats and birdsong at dusk as the light of the sun fades.
7.5.20 First full day of summer feel. Clear sky, blackbird singing on the neighbor’s TV aerial, pinkish purple hue to clouds, last of the cherry blossoms on our tree. Sitting, waiting for the full moon to pop above the house to the east. I know she’s there, risen for 17 minutes, full.
8.5.20 Day off from work - a gorgeous summer day again. Sat in the yard all day - shorts and T-shirt. Made two coil pots, shifting my legs around as my feet fell asleep or hips tired from the stretch, a combination of yoga and potterymaking. Painted slip and slurry on the pots with my fingers, shapes and textures inspired by pottery wasps.
9.5.20 More coil pots in the yard today. How lucky we are to have this space.
14.5.20 We walked in the opposite direction today, heading uphill and east instead of further into the river valley. A path I’ve not been on before despite living here for nine months now. The woods were quiet and a different sort of woods than what’s down by the river. Denser and darker, it felt good to see new greens and to walk a path covered in pine needles. To get above the valley and to see for a distance cleared the head of lockdown bubble, tall blades of grass on the edge of the fields in the breeze at golden hour.
15.5.20 The wood anemone blooms are well and truly gone, replaced by wild garlic blooms and bluebells at their peak. Until next year wood anemone!
16.5.20 A longer walk today, following the same path from two days ago but going further - past kissing gates we nudged open with our elbows. Three wood ants’ nests, one close to the path. We leaned in close and could hear their scurry.
19.5.20 Goat willow seeds hang in the air, creating an illusion of snow not falling. Catching the light and tickling my nose, mounding in the tangle of brambles at the back of the garden.
20.5.20 A walk in the woods from sunset to dusk. Wild garlic fading, bluebells too. Bats flying over the burn. Three otters right along the bank of the river, under where we stood! Splashing about, playing like teenage boys until they saw us.
21.5.20 Another dusky walk, the woods have become a green jungle. Dried elm seed pompoms underfoot. Red campion glowing.
23.5.20 I’ve always struggled to know who I’m looking at when it come to swifts, swallow, and house martins. I realized today that that’s because I don’t think I’ve ever seen swifts before. There were dozens of them flying over the calm bit of the river after the riffles. The curve of their wings was unmistakable and I’ve never seen birds so fast. Diving and banking and climbing high then dropping to find every last little beastie.
24.5.20 We walked out of the valley and up into the woods this evening, watching the golden hour sun stretch far into the woods from the north west. Stitchwort still blooming and a first honeysuckle bloom, candy-sweet.
25.5.20 Watched the sun set from the doorstep. The low horizon looked like it was on fire.
27.5.20 Walk along the river at sunset, we have it to ourselves, no dog walkers. Wild garlic is completely faded, red campion and stitchwort are still going. Last of the bluebells hanging on. Were the swifts just passing through on their way further north? Haven’t seen them.
30.5.20 Two days of sitting in the sun, light through the trees.
31.5.20 Glow of a slope of buttercups at sunset. Two swifts fly over the house. I followed a blackbird along the path.
1.6.20 A walk up the hill, out of the valley to the fields. The stitchwort blooms are gone and the bracken stems are now over a meter tall, unfurling, unfurling at the tips.
2.6.20 Up into the woods again. Clouds starting to come in, smells like rain.
4.6.20 First daisies blooming by the river. A harmony of swifts, swallows and house martin all flying over the river. Swallows perched on the cable that crosses the river, flying within a foot of the river’s surface, blue-ish sheen of their backs, not flapping their wings. Rain today, water drops hanging like ornaments off of larch needles, caught in a tangle of spiderwebs.
14.6.20 Haven’t been paying attention in the same way the past couple of weeks, mind fully inward instead. We got out for our first walk since the start of lockdown that we needed our car to get to. A new spot. It was beautiful - river tumbling below the viaduct, foxgloves blooming and, surprisingly, still some stitchwort blooming here too. A small stream with clear swimming holes and tufts of moss in the mist of small falls. It was hot and I wished I had anything but jeans on.
15.6.20 Attempted to walk up to the woods out of the valley. Stopped by a cow in a field who stared and looked pissed. Had no idea what to do about a cow that stares and looks pissed. She started to come towards us in an aggressive way so we sprinted back to the gate, cow now charging behind us. Momentarily terrifying but then quite funny. Googled how to deal with aggressive cows in a field afterwards. Walked along the river at golden hour instead.
16.6.20 So flat and grey.
17.6.20 So flat and grey again.
18.6.20 A bit of sun flashed through the trees, dog rose in full bloom, their scent cutting through mental fog. Elderflower has been in full bloom for a few days now, their heady smell much nicer than their leaves.
19.6.20 Heavy sky and so damp, a fizz of electricity hanging in the air. Surely there should be a storm. Wishing for one to clear things but think it might be wet and grey for days instead. The sun broke through for a minute when we were next to the dog rose again. Perfect spot.
Thank you roses, thank you spring.
