Welcome to 2026, Everyone!

 I'm back in work, the year 2026 now appearing as my blog date, and I still haven't quite shaken off this wretched bloody cold that I feel like I've had for 6 weeks. Then to cap it all off, snow and ice arrive as I go back to work on my bicycle. 

Always a joyful experience that. 

What is rather more joyful, is the early appearance of some of our winter flowers. Just away from the Great Plain Tree of Friary Gardens, beautiful aconite has come into flower, little blonde choristers wearing their green choral robes up on what was once a medieval earthwork. 

In the cemetery, I even saw crocuses blooming in December, and even more shocking was the sight of a buff tailed bumblebee queen grazing noisily off mahonia next to the main road. 

I worry that spring will be over by the end of February at this rate! 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 07.01.26 

Reflections

 Not the pondering, wondersome kind. I have plenty of those, making my way in the world with neurological and neurodivergent conditions. I'm not very good at writing about them.

No, today we look at the physical sort brought about by vivid Christmas illuminations on a saturatingly wet day, the wet ground bouncing the lights in a slightly eerie glow. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.12.25

It's January, and Bees are about

 We've had a couple of very bright sunny days this week, not cold when the sun is shining on you, and when the air is still can you almost imagine its low yellow rays might be warming you up a little. But it was hardly tropical, indeed it wasn't even double figures.

A decent January day, in other words.

So, on my little Tourette relief walk I like to take at lunch time, inspecting the bright gorse flowers on campus, imagine my astonishment when at the back of the bush, I saw a lone honey bee making its way into the flowers, orange pollen shopping bags very visible on its legs. 

Walking back, there was another feeding off high up hazel catkins. 

A little later on, with the sun a little higher, I went out again, and there they were, in reasonable numbers. I was able to get a couple of photos, before heading further out onto the campus badlands, to where the stinking helleborine grows. 

The flowers weren't even fully open, and yet there were a few more honey bees feeding off the closed green flower bells, climbing deep inside until out of view. 

That was yesterday. They were about again today, although fewer in number in chillier temperatures. 

I've never before seen bees on the wing in January. Normally, its mid February when the crocuses are in flower that they appear. Other people have reported seeing them too. 

Have you?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 30.01.25

Hello Robin!

 Meant to do a longer post with all the icy landscapes we've had here, but today I was lucky enough to get a very cheerful and confiding robin greeting me at work. 

We have a very brown looking campus at the moment, so the sighting of a red breast peeking out from the trees and hedgerows is very welcome. They are becoming much noisier, with more and more of them launching into song from prominent positions on fences and tree tops. It is very welcome, as is the sight I had today of some great tits - not often seen on campus - flitting among the hazel. 

On the coldest day, we even had a couple of fieldfare drop in too. 

I'm sorry about the picture quality, this is about as good as I can get of a songbird with my mobile phone!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 16.01.25

New Emergences

 Having had a lovely family Christmas with the three of us - stepfather, sister, and myself, with the new year it is always exciting to anticipate the blooming of the first "spring" flowers.

Only, it has already happened!

As well as the snowdrops I've shown you, I've found aconite already in the Friary Gardens, and also crocuses in the cemetery.

Crocuses! In December!

I wonder if the anticipated freezing snap we are about to have will slow things down a bit, after all it was a very mild festive season, but I'm just pleased to see the colour for now, as the days begin to lengthen.

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 02.01.2025

Guess What's Back?

 Got out for a run late afternoon, where the clouds were just beginning to break up after an entirely grey day. 

The run had an objective in mind; to head to the cemetery to see if there are any snowdrops in flower, And sure enough there were! Right where I was expecting, the place they always come into flower first, just the one bunch in flower at the moment, but, they count!

The lake was peaceful, gently rose gold gilded, with the ducks congregating for a feed of grain from a young child. 

The sunset that followed, as I ran along opposite the hospital, was a firey and glorious spectacle. 

Is anything growing where you are?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 15.12.2024

First Snow of the Season

 The quiet green and brown months of late autumn, where little flies, grows or blooms, have been disturbed by quite the heavy snowfall up here. 

It's a long time since we've had snow this heavy at all here, let alone in November. It feel for several hours until about 1am, by which time we had about 10cm on snow on the ground, filling my planters and covering my poor old Decathlon bike that lives outside.

In the morning, one look outside told me that cycling to work was not going to be a great idea, as it turned out, walking through heavy, slippery slush was no fun either and took me over an hour to get to work. 

It is now clear off the roads and paths, apart from a bridge section that looks like it will be no fun after a sub zero night. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.11.24

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

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

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

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