I spent the first part of this week at my parents’ house, in SW Scotland, which meant lots of different things to notice; not least the crocuses, barely showing their leaves here, but already flowering in their milder, westerly climate. However, I didn’t see any daffodils blooming there, whereas the first ones are out now by Leazes Bowl roundabout in the centre of Durham – always the first place I see them. They must be an early variety but I also suspect an urban heat-island effect or maybe high CO2 levels at car exhaust level!
One of the pleasures of my visit was seeing different birds as I walked along the river into town – Tufted ducks bobbing around on the River Dee, a Curlew grubbing for worms and invertebrates in the soft river bank and Red Kites wheeling overhead.

Around Durham I often hear the haunting cry of Curlew as they fly overhead but I got a good close look at this one on the ground, looking so front-heavy with its huge, curved beak.

The trees along the path are festooned with foliose and fruticose lichens such as Ramalina, which tolerate salt spray. This was opportune; my final Plant and Algal physiology lecture this week was an introduction to this group of organisms, so I spent time gathering lichen-covered twigs to hand round the students.  A simple hand lens is enough to bring this microscopic world to life for students – way better than just looking at my Powerpoint slides!

As well as introducing students to the weird and wonderful world of lichens this week, I was lucky enough to visit two placement students teaching Biology in local primary schools. I was delighted to end up on mini-beast safaris in the school grounds on both days, helping children hunt under dead wood and stones to find millipedes, centipedes, worms, spiders and many, many woodlice. There were Bracket fungi, Jelly ears and slime moulds to pique the children’s interest too. What delighted me most of all was how much children in both schools are encouraged to roam in ‘untidy’ woodland areas of the school grounds and are happy to be outside even in cold and windy weather.  The next generation of nature-noticers in training! 

At home, there were several early morning runs and a cycle ride to the boat club where the dawn chorus is becoming increasingly obvious.  I saw no Kingfishers on the river this week, which was busy with boats because of Durham Small Boats Head race, but plenty of Mallards and Dabchicks, ducking out of the way of oar blades. 

Last but not least, with male Hazel catkins shedding their pollen everywhere, I knew it was time to look for the tiny female flowers, which always remind me of sea anemones.  And sure enough, there they were, already dusted with pollen.

I’ve just finished reading The Man Who Smiled, one of Henning Mankell’s Wallander detective novels as I felt the need of an easy read in a week with lots of conflicting demands on my time and attention.

In the garden I’ve still done very little as the ground is very wet, but have filled the green bin with some winter pruning.

We ate some excellent Sichuan food on Saturday evening at Sense, in Durham, highly recommended by my Chinese students.  With Rosie and her cousin currently in China, and Martyn having just finished Fushia Dunlop’s Invitation to a Banquet, this felt like the time to treat ourselves. The Morning glory (aka Water spinach) cooked with shrimp paste and stirfried shredded potatoes with chilli and vinegar were excellent, as was Martyn’s ‘Signature Pot’, with pork, wood-ear mushrooms and tofu. We were glad we’d taken the waiter’s advice not to go for the hot version though…