After such an exciting week last week, the changes I noticed this week were bound to be less dramatic but it was good to engage a new sense as I wandered around the Botanic gardens one lunchtime and noticed the smell of the Box hedge for the first time this year. I rather like it, but know it is not to everyone’s taste; the oils and alkaloids in the leaves almost certainly evolved to deter insects and other herbivores.  I only know of Box (Buxus sempervirens) as an ornamental hedging material but apparently the hard, fine-grained wood is also prized for the making of woodwind instruments such as oboes and recorders.

Birds have been making themselves more and more apparent this week, from the Nuthatch I saw from the bird hide in the Botanics, to the skeins of geese flying overhead, the family of brightly coloured Bullfinches in Crowtrees LNR and the Grey Wagtails, Cormorants and broody Moorhen spotted from my rowing boat on Saturday morning.  On a short mid-week visit to York I enjoyed watching geese floating serenely down the very high River Ouse during a golden hour walk and was pleased to see the willow spilings doing exactly what they are supposed to, protecting the banks from erosion.

The pollen season is definitely upon us now – the ground by the path up to the station is already covered in male Alder catkins, dropped after doing their work, and the male cones of the Japanese Cedar at the Botanics release clouds of pollen if you give them a gentle tap.

Noticing new seedlings appearing in the grassland outside the Maths and Computing building this week was more of a pleasure. After a long history as arable land, this area was allowed to remain wild for several years before the new building was erected and had a diverse flora including Heath spotted- and Bee orchids.  Like many others, I was very sad to see this disappear under concrete but the university Greenspace/Biodiversity team have worked hard to avoid the buildings being surrounded by manicured lawns and it’s a pleasure to see the leaves of old friends such as Yarrow and Ox-eye Daisies appearing now. I hope the colony of Bee orchids which delighted those in the know last summer has survived last year’s heat and drought.

On Sunday I had a very early and very cold walk with my friend Sue up to and around Crowtrees LNR where we enjoyed the birdsong, the Exmoor ponies and the temperature slowly rising from a sub-zero start as the sun rose.  There is real warmth in the sun now, and it feels very good. 

Before the frost melted it brought out some distinctive features of the plants around us – who knew that the upper surface of Mouse-ear-hawkweed leaves looks so much like hairy legs?!

The scrubby Blackthorn at the top of the reserve is still very definitely in bud, so it must be Cherry Plum I’ve been seeing flowering along roadsides in the area.  The Blackthorn branches play host to miniature gardens of moss and lichens, making the most of the light before the leaves emerge and throw them into shade.  I’m normally reasonably confident in my Obsidentify phone app but was less so today when it identified this Ramalina lichen as Juniper, with something over 90% certainty! 

I’m just finishing reading Paterson Joseph’s historical novel The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho, which I’ve very much enjoyed.  Based loosely on the life of the 18^th Century composer and abolitionist, it’s a useful reminder of just how long people from all over the world have been a key part of London society.  Also, of how much of a struggle it has been for many of them to find acceptance.  

In the garden, the Japanese flowering quince is covered in deep red flowers and the Clematis tangutica with which it is entangled has produced fresh, green shoots. The first few miniature Daffodils are coming out in the garden and there are many more on the university science site and on the mound below Clifford’s Tower in York.  I spent Sunday afternoon weeding in the allotment and the small greenhouse now has its cover back on, so it’s time to sort out my seeds and get planting!

Our culinary highlight was probably a meal at the Ivy in York. The tastiest course for me was definitely the raspberry sorbet with pistachio foam we had for dessert.  I must get back into making sorbets with some of my glut of garden fruits…..