Thursday 7 March 2024

The Beauty of Small Things

 I'm not seeing many "big" pollinators at the moment, but as the occasional, well, I'd hardly call them "bursts" of sunshine have appeared - more like watery visitations of a sun like object in the sky - there have been plenty of smaller pretties on offer. 

I like to take every opportunity to get outside, waving my cameraphone around hopefully, to see what might be out there, and I like to advise everyone to do the same, if only with their eyes. Because at this time of the year, beautiful things are emerging, and they might not all be of the largest size.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 07.03.24










Tuesday 27 February 2024

Behold the Crocus Carpet!

 For one week only, the cemetery crocus carpet made its glorious annual re-appearance, decorating the houses of the dead with luxurious splashes of purple and white, and giving a haven for early season pollinators.

They barely seem to last now, made even more ephemeral by the rain falling like an anvil on them just as they reach their peak, a modern day feature of local winters that results in a a chaos of savaged petals and broken stems after a few scant days of glory.

But while they are there, they are stunning.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 27.02.24









Sunday 18 February 2024

Emergences

 The weather this late winter, as we all know, has been generally horrid, with endless rain and swollen rivers flooding everywhere. 

However, this weekend we have seen very mild temperatures with the occasional absence of showers, so with plenty of flowers now in bloom in the parks and the cemetery, I knew it would be a good time to go bee hunting.

I was rewarded by my first honeybee and bumblebee close encounters in consecutive days. 

It was the castle crocuses the honeybees were enjoying on Saturday, on the wing as the grounds were being archaeologically excavated by the gateway. They looked so fresh and new, and very hungry as they went from flower to flower drinking up the nectar for minutes at a time. 

Today, it was a walk through the cemetery, now carpeted in crocuses as it is - stunningly - every year. As soon as I looked down, a stonking great buff tailed bumblebee queen was working through the flowers, tail as buff as it could be.

It's days like this I wait for from the beginning of October, and to cap it off I was able to enjoy an 8km run. There's life in me yet!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.02.24








Wednesday 7 February 2024

Gosh, a Brimstone!

 A couple of days ago at work, on a very mild day, I was taking a breaktime stroll when I was surprised - to say the least - to see a familiar bright yellow form fluttering around the bushes.

A male Brimstone, up about five weeks earlier than I've ever seen one before, and in beautiful condition.

I think it had perhaps realised it had awoken rather too early, as it was settling much more than brimstones normally do, and seemed very keen to get back into cover perhaps to go back to sleep. 

Judging by my feeds on Instagram and Threads, I'm far from the only person to have come across one!

Have you seen any butterflies out of bed when they shouldn't be?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 07.02.24




Monday 15 January 2024

Back Out on the Trails

 Running day today, a bitterly cold one and it is only going to get colder. 

The birds knew it was new year, you know. Since then, there is so much more song and noise in the dawn. I have local robins and blackbirds singing to greet me as I open the door in the morning. Birds are getting territorial, alarm calls chacking out from the blackbirds, and robins aggro-strutting in the old oak wood at the park.

On the water the mallard drakes are in full breeding colours, bottle green heads glowing in sunlight. Goosander are on the two lakes, the pieballed battleships of the duck world. 

On the ground, snowdrops and aconite are out in flower, cowslips too in the library gardens. It is my favourite few months of the year now, as the cemetery changes colour every month as I run through it. I'm loving running again, when my body will stand it.

I'm trying to rediscover the joy in moving through nature. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 15.01.24










Monday 1 January 2024

A Soggy Start to 2024

 It was raining like mad last night, it is raining like anything today, so I've spent New Years Day on the sofa. 

In fact, we seem to have been enduring rain and stormy winds for the entire holiday season! There is so much flooding around here, with Sconce Park pastures and large chunks of Farndon village being below water. But I've still managed to get out running a few times, albeit going very slowly, and really enjoyed being out there, spotting the first signs of the colours of spring. 

In addition to snowdrops, we have the first flowering aconite, mahonia and most strangely, cowslips in bloom in the library gardens. 

I've enjoyed watching tweeping flocks of goldfinch working on teasel heads, long tailed tits flitting through willow trees by the lake and river, and on New Years Eve a huge buzzard sat on the ground in a paddock, staring intently at something under a battleship grey sky. 

There's a lot of world out there, and I intend to explore more of it than I have been doing. 

Si

All text and images copyright Cream Crackered Nature 01.01.24










Sunday 10 December 2023

The Arrival of Winter

 Finally, after a nasty cold snap, we have returned to the usual normality of early winter these days; heavy rain and stormy winds blowing my mini greenhouse over. 

But it was a bitter time for a few days, the sort of times I hate because of cycling to work with agonised Raynaud Syndrome hands surrounded by maniac drivers. We had a surprisingly heavy snowfall one evening that was slushified by rain the next day, with really hard frosts sandwiching it. 

The bad weather and painful ankle has made having my walks difficult; I dislike walking in icy conditions after smashing my elbow a few years ago. But I've been out a few times, looking at the new sights that winter brings us round here. I've been treated to delightful flocks of goldfinches twittering noisily as they feed of teasel heads, and pure white little egrets shining in the sun as they fly past my office window.

On the Blue Lake, goosander have returned, seemingly getting earlier every year, and flocks of long tailed tits work the trees lapped by the water. And in my container garden, crocus spears and allium shoots have re-appeared, although other bulbs I've planted haven't yet.

Today, with mild and dry conditions, I set out on a snowdrop hunt in the cemetery - and I found them too! In the same place they always appear first.

With the world as it is, it is re-assuring that wildflowers re-appear every year. The world keeps going, just as I try to.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 10.12.23