If you have been wondering where we have been, we have been away chasing the winter sun. We have been on tour, with the cats, on the Iberian Peninsula. Notes will be forthcoming at Two Snails just as soon as I can remember my login details…
We returned home last weekend, just one year exactly after first seeing our little Crooked House. I am happy to report that the weather this year is many times better than it was at this time last year, when we came to see the house in the snow.
On our first dog walk after returning I was quite dejected to see no signs of Spring and remarked on this as we walked – but there, just as we approached the house on our way home, there in the verge, I spotted Speedwell and Aconite.
I am reminded that one of the many things that I thought about whilst we were on the road was that I wanted to keep a Nature Diary this year. Clearly, with frequent trips away, I cannot keep full notes of the year but here seems as good a place to begin as any other.
One week on and the weather improved from the rain and frost that we have suffered this week, another walk today under cloudless sky revealed catkins and lambs. We also saw several of the bright yellow butterflies, which I have yet to identify but were a constant feature of last Spring and early Summer.
It was clearly wet whilst we were away and all ditches and watercourses are full but the chemins are not too muddy to walk, compared to last year when some were literally knee-deep and impassable. The sheep and cattle are out on the fields too, unlike last year and today we heard lambs.
There were any birds in the hedgerows today and I wondered if they are nesting yet, then recalled that today is the 14th February, St Valentine’s Day, when the birds are said to begin their courting. It was a beautiful day for such a business.
Once I get my act together I will supply images with my nature notes but unfortunately there are none to share today. We have been busy since arriving home and I have had no time to get the camera out.
1 thought on “What a difference a year makes”