I realise that in my last chapter I
foolishly referred to “the obvious birds” at our feeders. Thanks
to the wonders of the world-wide web you readers may be in any
continent, so they may not be obvious to you at all. So here is the
full list of what we expect to see every day at this time of year:
Blue tit, Parus caeruleus; Great tit,
Parus major; Coal tit, Parus ater; House sparrow, Passer domesticus;
Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis; Common chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs;
Common blackbird, Turdus merula; Dunnock, Prunella modularis;
European robin, Erithacus rubecula; Common woodpigeon, Columba
palumbus.
When they are so listed it does seem a
very satisfactory number. They are certainly the brightest spots in
the garden just now. They are a pleasure to see, and one always
hopes for some different species as well.
I also talked about coppicing in the
last chapter. I particularly recommend Oliver Rackham's magnificent
survey, “The History of the Countryside” for excellent coverage of
this and many other topics. For example, he shows how John Evelyn's
famous observation (late seventeenth century) that the glass and iron
industries were stripping the countryside of woods was a complete
error made by a town-dweller. In fact the charcoal fuel for the glass
and iron industries came from coppices, where trees were harvested
but not killed. They were left to re-grow.
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| Highly recommended |
At the foot of my coppiced hazel is the
traditional first sign of spring. There are plenty of Snowdrops,
Galantha nivalis. There is some doubt as to whether this garden plant
ought to be counted as a native or not, but it is very welcome in my
garden.
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| Snowdrops |
I wonder what will flower next.
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