Nature Notes

For the past month I have been watching a queen wasp building its nest in my wooden garden shed.

Similar to last year, April’s weather has been dominated by a cool northerly airstream, but without the devastating frosts. Consequently cherry and magnolia blossom, daffodils and tulips have been good and long lasting.

The warm weather has brought out cherry blossom and spring flowers, and thrushes and blackbirds are in full song especially at dusk.

Roe deer are regularly seen around here. Last week I spotted a hind with two three-quarter grown young break out of Carriage Road Plantation and run across a field of rape into a copse.

Walking along Fleetham Lane on New Year’s Day I was surprised to see four hares cavorting around showing signs of mating.

In January 2020 we included an item about a blue tit at Glebe Cottage.

The weather in 2021 was extraordinary. After a cold, wet winter, April and May were the coldest for thirty years and unusually dry.

Gale force winds and snow signalled the end to yet another mild, dry autumn.

Local beekeeper, John Wilson, tells me that his bees have produced a good crop of honey this year, despite the vagaries of the spring weather.

Migration is fully underway and tracking devices are being used to locate where, in Africa, many of our summer visitors spend the winter.