April again

I have just been looking at the pictures I posted last April as again I have been amazed at the advanced state of some of the signs of spring/ summer. As I drove home this evening I saw Horse Chestnuts in full bloom. I saw this last year, they are so much earlier than my memory suggests. I am sure that the last picture in What to look for in Spring had as its last illustration a picture of swifts around a Horse chestnut in flower.

I do have very fond memories of Ladybird book, have a look at this site ladybirdflyawayhome.com run by a very dedicated lady called Helen. You can also leave her any questions you may have about ladybird books.

My favourites were the Mammals series, by John Leigh Pemberton I think I started with European Mammals and then worked my back to get the others in the series. Though I do remember waiting what at the time seemed like an eternity for South American Mammals, which was the last in the series. I must have read each one hundreds of times and I think some if not all are still at my mother's house in various states of repair.


Sorry but it is bed time, I have to go to work tomorrow

goodnight

April again: Time, Change and staying put

So April has got into double figures and I have found the time and the inclination to start writing something. Where to start that has always been the problem. I have been wondering about going back to the same place and taking a series of pictures that represents how a place changes as time goes by.


So for example I have walking along the canal at the down the road from me fairly regularly over the last few years and over last year or so have tried to take pictures from the same place. Looking north from north side of Gillity Bridge on the Rushall Canal as it runs through the Parkhall Estate. I took these three picture over the last couple of months.

The first was taken in early November 2010, the leaves and the colours just about hanging on.

The second taken towards the end of December of the same year shows how things can change, the main colour is now white, it looks cold and harsh and yet 3 and a half months later spring has returned, bringing new colour and all the cliches that goes with it. Even the swans are back to add that little touch.


This sort of illustrates the thing that has been nagging way in the back of my head for a while.

Sorry if this is beginning to get a bit over the top but....

Things change whether you want them to or not. Even if we stay in the same place and we try to stay the same, the fourth dimension gets us every time, literally. Time moves on in its own sweet way. Time and experience changes us and our perception of our surroundings. I am sure that Albert Einstein had quite a useful contribution to make on this, I will leave you to mull this over.

This lat week I have taken some other pictures that I like and this is one of my favourites. This was taken on Saturday in on my walk around the Forge Mill Lake. the hedges either side of the path have grown over to form a tunnel which supports the "blossom" through its structure.

OK night for now as I am tired

Signs of Spring April 2011

The second week in April has been increasingly warm and dry here in the UK and I read from various sources that March was very dry as well if not particularly warm, well it did not feel warm any way.

Today, Sunday I went for a walk with my youngest up to Merrions Wood which is about a 10 minute walk away. As I wandered around I could feel the approach of summer. It is only the early part of April and there are Bluebells in the wood. On the other hand the trees are in general taking there own time about the matter. Though the Sycamore and the Horse Chestnuts are waking up and producing leaves and flowers, the Oak and Beech which predominate are just stirring and you have to look for signs of life.

Standing still and watching and listening in the wood helps catch sight of the birds in the tree tops. Various members of the tit family could be picked out including my favourite, long tailed tits. I would love to get a picture of one of them, but they are too far away and I had my own individualised bird scarer with me who needed some sort of attention.

There are portents of Summer all over the place, yesterday I went to the Forge Mill Lake and on the RSPB part, on one of the posts sat a Common Tern. Whether it was on of the breeding pair from last year or even one of their 3 offspring that flew south last year I have no idea.

On the other hand as a reminder of more recent and colder times there are still large numbers of this winter's visitors. On the lake there were Teal and Shovellers aplenty and a good number of Goosanders, mainly female, which looked ready to depart any time now. I do have the sense that things are moving now and a gear has been changed. Spring has just started and it will not remain as warm as this for long, It is however steps forward and steps back, but th esteps forward are outweighing the steps back.

It is still only the 1st half of April, there is much to happen yet and the anticipation, keeps me interested.

Bed time

Into April

Its April and I should have more to sit and write down. Last week my father finally made it to 70 and had a really good party. I am sure though I used to be able to cope with parties much better, Thursday morning and my body made sure I realised that overindulging is never a good thing, well at least until next time.

So back to the normal stuff, for a while at least. Days are getting longer and now the clocks have changed I get home from work in the light. It makes a major difference though I don't think I want to do double summer time. I was once in Brussels in December and it was just getting light after 9:00am. It probably would not be that bad here, but winter is dark enough without trying to tinker with it.

This weekend has seen a couple of firsts for the year in terms of my bird watching. On a walk around the Forge Mill Lake on Saturday afternoon I saw a couple of Chiffchaff flitting around. I was quite impressed with myself in that I recognised what they were. It does help if the you see a small green bird on a branch going chiff chaff, chiff chaff etc etc.

My second first as it were was this afternoon in my garden, glancing up I saw a House Martin bopping around just above the rooftops.

Spring has well and truly arrived when the migrants start to turn up. The leaves on lots of trees and shrubs are coming out now with that bright new green of spring.

This was going to be short as I started late and it is now definitely time for bed.