This has been a week of ‘interesting’ weather and lots of time in work, so opportunities for nature noticing have had to be grabbed when they’ve arisen. I’ve realised how important the short walk up through High Wood to the department is on the days when I do little more than cycle to work. The signs of spring are there in fresh green leaves bursting from their buds in a few hawthorn and elder trees, which I guess is why I’m also seeing hedgerows being slashed back everywhere by tractor-mounted trimmers. Hedges need to be trimmed when trees are dormant for minimum stress to the plant and it’s also important not to leave it until birds have started to nest, but I do wish farmers were encouraged (i.e. funded) to be a little less brutal in their slashing. Surprisingly, the wood-rotting Turkey Tail fungus, Trametes versicolor, seemed to be growing on bare ground beneath this particular new hedge but on closer inspection turned out to be breaking down the stumps of a previous tree on the site.

As the days slowly lengthen I’m noticing more birdsong and heard my first Yellowhammer of the year, this week.  Its ‘Little bit of bread and no cheeeeese’ refrain is one of the few songs I find easy to recognise; I remember first reading about in one of Enid Blyton’s surprisingly-informative nature books as a primary school child.  The Jay I spotted this week also takes me straight back childhood, when I found one of the tiny blue and white-striped feathers from a wing flash, and carefully sellotaped it into the diary I was keeping for my Brownie Nature badge. Maybe I’ve not changed very much!

An especial pleasure this week has been a few Winter Aconites popping up amidst the snowdrops in the front garden.  I’d forgotten I’d planted out some I bought in a pot last year and am hoping they will naturalise like the snowdrops.  There is a churchyard in Wolsingham full of them, so we’re obviously not too far north!

I’ve also enjoyed the lovely scent of the Viburnum × bodnantense ‘Dawn’ by our front door and resolved to prune it properly this year, so the flowers are closer to nose-height.  I’ve even appreciated the metallic blue berries of Viburnum tinus, beloved of park-keepers and planted all over the university science site, but generally one of my least favourite shrubs. I find the flowers a mucky looking white and they have no scent to redeem them but the berries are welcome pop of colour at this time of year.

This pretty pattern on the roof of the perspex shed where I leave my bike at work had me puzzled initially – my first thought being that it looked like the patterns Limpets make as they move across a rock surface, grazing.

It turns out that’s more or less what it is – a snail has wandered across the roof, using its toothed radula to graze on the algae growing there. Because we are that sort of household, I’ve been asked to collect some of the algae for looking at under the microscope, so there will be an update when I can find a quiet time to scrape off a sample without getting too many funny looks! This week’s microscopy was limited to another primary school visit where the children had been learning about the differences between plant and animal cells and were using low power microscopes to look at red onion cells. Their sense of wonder was contagious; they were soon hunting around for other things to look at, including the skin of satsumas and bananas in their classroom fruit bowl. For the big reveal, I can tell you that neither looks particularly exciting at x 100 magnification!
I’ll leave you to guess where the sneezing Alpaca comes into the story – suffice it to say, it would have been difficult to ignore.

I’m currently reading and enjoying The House of Doors, by Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng, a novel set on the island of Penang, which weaves a story around a time in the 1920s when William Somerset Maugham stayed there, collecting material which he then incorporated into stories such as The Letter, based on a real-life murder trial in the colony. The fact that Ed and family have recently been on holiday in Penang has made it all the more interesting.
In the garden I’ve done absolutely nothing apart from taking a few photos this week. Surely the ground will start to dry out soon…
Culinary highlights have been thin on the ground this week but I have been making a lot of pancakes for a Shrove Tuesday social at church. It may be some time before I can face a frying pan again!