Sunday – Leominster – Off down the street before dawn. A line of light lays between Eaton Hill and the black clouds. The dawn chorus is loud – mainly Blackbirds with a few Robins and Dunnocks. A Wood Pigeon coos, Jackdaws mutter and there is the distant yelps of gulls. A brief hoot comes from a Tawny Owl in Sydonia Park. Several of the Flowering Cherries are in blossom.
A couple of hours later it is light. Clouds still move across the sky from the north. The dawn chorus has ceased but Jackdaws still chack on the roof tops and Wood Pigeons call: “My Toe Bleeds Taffy”. A noisy flock of 15 gulls fly north and a couple fly south.
Chiffchaffs and Wrens sing in the riverside trees. Onto Butts Bridge. A female Sparrowhawk flies from by the river up into the trees overlooking the railway. The Wren song falls silent and its alarm call starts. The water level in the River Lugg is still fairly high. Back up the steps of the bridge over the railway. The Sparrowhawk is in the tree close to the top of the steps and seems unfazed by my presence.
Into the Millennium Park. More Chiffchaffs call. Primroses flower by the old pond. The first Marsh Marigolds are also coming into flower. The daffodils at the foot of the churchyard seem much reduced this year. The River Kenwater flows swiftly. On Pinsley Mead the new plum tree – Rivers Early Prolific, developed from an early-season French plum variety called Precoce de Tours by the famous Thomas Rivers nursery in Hertfordshire in the 1830s. – is in flower, as is the greengage. Into the churchyard where Blackbirds are disputing their territories. Fresh molehills have been thrown up.
Home – A new top is placed on the chicken run. Three cross-pieces and a longitudinal one support a clear tarpaulin. Hopefully this will keep the run drier. The Chiffchaff calls nearby.
Monday – Home – Out into the garden to check the chickens and am surprised to see a Red-legged Partridge by the run. It seems to want to join the hens but they are seemingly looking daggers at it. It scurries around to one of the vegetable beds which has only weeds in it at present and starts feeding. I leave it alone. Later it has departed. The greengage and plum tree are coming into blossom and the Gladstone apple will not be long. The second sowing of tomatoes are pricked out into larger pots. Cherry Falls is a tumbler for the hanging baskets and Black Opal is one for the greenhouse.
It has occurred to me that one decent gale and the new tarpaulin on the run will be somewhere distant. So some large washers are screwed down around the top edge which should make it more secure. Of course, there are not enough washers so the job will have to be finished tomorrow. The lawnmower has its engine flushed with flushing oil and new oil added ready for the first cut. The grass is still wet at the moment, so it will have to wait. A Small White butterfly is visiting the first Daisies on the lawn.
Tuesday – Home – The final washers are screwed into the tarpaulin and it should, hopefully, withstand any gales now. The afternoon is warm in the sunshine. Broad beans that have been in the cold frame are planted out and staked. A Brimstone butterfly dashes around the garden. Chiffchaff and Great Tit call. A strange looking bee is on a Primrose. It then hovers and displays dark edges to its wings. It also has a long proboscis. A field guide reveals it to be a Dark-edged Bee-fly, Bombylius major, whose larvae feed on the grubs of solitary bees and wasps in their underground nests.
Wednesday – Bodenham Lake – After a couple of days of bright sunshine and frosty nights the grey drizzle returns. It is much milder though. Water is retreating from the fields south of Leominster. At Bodenham Lake a Chiffchaff is at the top of a tree, looking this way and that as it calls. A Blackcap sings. More songs and calls – Robin, Wren, Great Tit and the cackling of Canada Geese. And a Peacock from the hall. A several dozen Sand and a few House Martins sweep low, this way and that over the boating lake. A Great Crested Grebe splashes along, dangling its feet in the water as it flies across the lake. There are a fair number of Tufted Duck and a single Mute Swan here. A single Oystercatcher is on an island.
Several Blackbirds are on the meadow. Carrion Crows fly over Westfield Wood. A small flock of Jackdaws flies south from the woods and meets another small flock heading north. They join up and all head south. Another Blackcap is singing in the lakeside trees.
Into the hide. The water level is slightly higher. Nothing of the scrape can be seen apart from the Willow rising from the water. The island by the south hide is much reduced in area but still holds two Oystercatchers and two Little Egrets. A Moorhen is on a nest in what will be the hide reed bed when it grows. Two Swallows fly over. A third Little Egret joins the other two. A Great Crested Grebe is diving by the northern reed bed. A Wren is moving through the dead reeds just out from the hide bank. Three Teal are near the island. Presumably unattached Drake Mallard are swimming around in threes.
Into the orchards. Plenty of buds are appearing on the dessert apple and pear trees. The green grass is spotted yellow with Lesser Celandines. It starts to rain properly.
Easter – Leominster – A bright, sunny morning, but cloud is building in the west. It is milder than of late. There is little bird song, Wood Pigeons and Jackdaws call and a Blue Tit chatters. Before reaching the bottom of the street, cloud has thickened overhead and the sun is slowly disappearing behind it.
Onto the railway bridge. A rabbit bolts along the old track and into a bramble thicket. A Great Tit calls, a Dunnock and a Robin sing and Wood Pigeons fly to and fro with claps of their wings. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has fallen a little. A Wren and Chiffchaff start to sing, then fall silent. A few Bluebells are appearing. Into Pinsley Mill. A Chaffinch is next to a Wood Pigeon that is pecking at fresh leaves on a Hawthorn. Unmown areas of the Millennium Park are being subsumed by Stinging Nettles. The River Kenwater flows steadily.
Through the churchyard which has also been mown. A few Starlings call from the trees and rooftops by the Forbury.
Home – By mid-morning the sun has disappeared and it seems cool. There is now a wind. A plastic pipe is fixed into the tarpaulin over the chicken run in the hope this will drain away rainwater as it gathers. A few pea shoots have appeared and a couple of red onions have sprouted but generally it is a poor showing. The broad beans are looking good. In the greenhouse, a row of lettuces have been sown in the middle of the bed where the tomatoes will go. The tomatoes and peppers are progressing well, although are taken in each night as it is still too cold. Spinach and cabbage are both coming on slowly and hopefully will be large enough to plant out soon.
Wednesday – Home – A wild day as Storm Noa (named by the French Meteorological Office) blasts through with high winds and frequent heavy showers. We are still decorating; painting the hall, so getting out is not an option. However, I have to go and push the water off the chicken run tarpaulin with some frequency. A water butt and plastic piping have arrived and hopefully tomorrow I can fix up a system where the water drains into the butt. Whether it will work remains to be seen. Of course, this weather is not conducive to getting the blossom on the plum, greengage and damson trees fertilised.
Sunday – Leominster – An overcast, wet morning but much milder after several days of morning frost. Wood Pigeons coo, a Great Tit is calling from the car park and a pair of Collared Doves chase across the rooftops. Cherry blossom adorns the trees in the street although one which flowered earlier than most is already turning brown. A Cormorant flies north over the town. A Starling chatters on a television aerial.
Onto the railway bridge. Rabbits are on the old track and out on Lammas meadow. A Chiffchaff and a Great Tit call loudly. A Blackcap sings beside Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has risen slightly and it flows grey green. A pair of Canada Geese fly over.
The car boot sale field is still a marsh and it is yet to start this year. So back past the White Lion to Pinsley Mill. Blue Tits twitter in the bushes across the railway. Into the Millennium Park. White Common Comfrey is coming into flower at the bottom of the churchyard. Starbursts of yellow Lesser Celandines still spot the grass although they are coming to the end of their season. Pale lilac Cuckoo Flowers are opening beside the site of the old pond. Marsh Marigolds are at their peak, brilliant yellow rising above the Stinging Nettles. Chiffchaffs call from the track-side hedge. A Blackcap sings in the corner of the Peace Garden. A large shrub with white candles flowers beside the river. A Chiffchaff moves through the trees whilst another regularly visits a Bramble and Stinging Nettle patch on the far side of the River Kenwater.
Into the churchyard Chiffchaffs and Wood Pigeons call and Robins sing. Onto the Grange. The Minster bells ring out. A Magpie stalks across the grass.
Wednesday – Home – Yesterday the grass was cut for the first time this year. A couple of extra areas may be left this year for flowers and grasses. I also tried to dig out the chicken run but it was like concrete. The layer of rotted down straw and grass is very thin, so I decided to leave it. One of the hens is laying eggs with very thin shells.
This afternoon the chicken run is covered with fresh straw and shavings. Some seedlings are planted out – cabbage, Webbs Kinver Globe and yellow chard. Rows of root vegetables are also sown – Parijse Markt 4, a globe carrot; Parsnip, Tender and True and a saved seed from the local seed swap; Beetroot, Detroit Globe and Moulin Rouge. Tomato plants in the greenhouse are doing well. The chillies are slow but that is the way they are. More chard needs pricking out.
Kay notices the local Robin is very active, so probably has a nest with young.
Thursday – Home – More seeds are planted – leeks, Little Gem lettuce, purple sprouting broccoli, Uncle Bert’s Purple kale and Georgia collards. Two more draining tubes are fitted to the chicken run tarpaulin and into the water butt. Overhead a mewing Common Buzzard circles, hassled by a single gull.
Sunday – Leominster – A mild morning with a light breeze. Clouds overhead are luminous. In the garden, a large bumblebee visits the blossom on the Christmas Pippin apple. The usual suspects call in the street. Over the railway to Butts Bridge. Wrens, Blackcap, Great Tit, Mistle Thrush, Blue Tits and Chiffchaff are all in song. The water level in the River Lugg has hardly changed. Most trees are either in bud or leaf. A large ring of Field Mushrooms is on Lammas Meadow, sadly with no access. Dog Violets and Primroses flower in the undergrowth. Wild Arum have “flower” spikes, though few have unfurled to expose the brown spike within, a poker-shaped inflorescence called a spadix.
Back to Pinsley Mill. Dunnocks sing and Wood Pigeons preen in the bushes across the railway. Into the Millennium orchard. Blossom is just appearing on the cider apple trees. A pair of Blackcaps are at the top of the perry pear tree. A large Bird Cherry is covered in blossom giving off a slightly acrid scent. Someone has trampled and ripped out large patches of the Wild Garlic, which is a shame. Picking a few leaves from each plant does no harm, completely denuding the plant weakens the bulb. A new patch of Wild Garlic has appeared in the Peace Garden.
Into the churchyard. Chiffchaff and Blackcap are on song, although they are hard to hear over the tolling church bell. A dead Hedgehog lies in the leaf litter.
Monday – Croft – A grey morning threatening rain. It has been over six months since I have been here. One of the great Beeches in the car park has been severely cut back, huge logs lay beside the severely pollarded tree. A Nuthatch flies low and fast across the car park into trees in the sheep field opposite. The sound of a chainsaw comes from across the valley. Down the ride into the Fish Pool Valley. Primroses, Celandines, Anemones, Dandelions and Bluebells are all in flower. A Blackcap sings from a sapling.
In the valley Mallard quack on the pools. Bright lime-green Golden-Saxifrage flowers beside the track. A Blackbird sings from a branch over the pump house pool. Up into the Beech woods past Dog Violets peeping out of the grass. A Raven croaks as it flies over. Wood Spurge is in flower. The great, venerable Beech still stands, its hollow trunk filling with leaf mould. Robins, Wrens and Nuthatches are all calling but not alas the song I am listening for, Wood Warbler. On along the path. A Great Spotted Woodpecker and Great Tit call. It starts to rain.
Towards the top of the valley, the sides are littered with debris from tree felling. A Buff-tailed Bumblebee buzzes loudly past. Chiffchaffs call. Up out of the valley. Dog Mercury flowers and what I think is Large Bitter-Cress on the sides of the stream. The Manchester to Boa Vista Boeing 767 flies over hidden by the cloud. An old Ash has split and fallen in several large branches yet one branch still rises high with nascent leaves. On up to the fallen Hornbeam.
A mass of broken branches from a Hazel are covered in moss yet leaves are opening on many of them. More hidden planes from Manchester to holiday destinations pass over. The large Yew by the gate to Croft Ambrey looks like it may be dying as there are barely any needles on its branches. One branch has rooted and a healthy young tree had grown. Up onto the hill-fort past more Dog Violets and Dog Mercury. Dog in the case of the violet means it is inferior as it has no scent, in the case of Dog Mercury it means false or bad. Dog Mercury was known as the Boggard Posy and is very poisonous. A Song Thrush sings from a tree on the high southern rampart. To the north of the hill-fort there are acres and acres of yellow fields of Oilseed Rape. Much of the vegetation has been removed from the top of the hill-fort – it would appear at the sheep and cattle put on here have done their job. Numerous old ant-hills are like giant green molehills in the south western corner. A Common Buzzard flies over heading for the woods. Fresh new leaves are opening on Brambles. The leaves on new growth are bright green but an old growth are darker with a purple tinge. A Chiffchaff is pecking at the underside of the new leaves. A white flash indicates the passing Jay which flies out across Yatton Common.
Down the old ride towards Croft Castle. A Mistle Thrush flies on to a fallen log but is chased off by a Great Spotted Woodpecker. A large stack of logs indicates that more Ash is still being felled. The herd of black cattle are in the corner of the wood by the gate to the Spanish Chestnut field. The valley of the River Arrow is misty but there is still large areas of Oilseed Rape to be seen. The Black Mountains and the Bannau Brycheiniog (the preferred name of the Brecon Beacons now) are lost in the mist. The leaves are out on the Horse Chestnuts and the candles are forming but the Spanish Chestnuts are barely in bud. Several more of them will probably never come into leaf again. However the saplings planted a few years back are progressing well. A Goldfinch flies into trees near the quarry pond. The rain is slightly heavier now.
Wednesday – Home – At 2:30am this morning a pair of Tawny Owls were calling from the Horse Chestnut overlooking our garden. Although there has not been a great deal of rain, the new water butt, being fed by pipes from the chicken run tarpaulin, is almost full.
Bodenham Lake – A mild, cloudy morning with a light breeze. Wren, Blackbird, Great Tit, Wood Pigeons and House Sparrows call. The towering row of Lombardy Poplars are now in leaf. A Blackcap and Chiffchaff sing. Dog Violets and Wild Strawberries flower beside the track. There are a good number of Blackcaps all the way down the track. The water level in the lake has dropped exposing more of the islands. On them are Oystercatchers, Mallard, Canada Geese, Tufted Duck and a Cormorant drying its wings. A Great Crested Grebe and a pair of Mute Swans are on the water. Sand Martins sweep low across the lake. Cuckoo Flowers are beside Bramble thickets.
A pair of Song Thrushes fly up off the meadow. A Gean, Wild Cherry, is in blossom. Chiffchaffs, Wren, Blackcap and Blue Tits sing along the meadow edges. The resident Robin is in the Gorse bush in front of the hide. The water level had fallen less than it seemed as nothing of the scrape is exposed. Greylags, Mallard, a single drake Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Coot, Canada Geese and Mute Swans are scattered across the water. Sand Martins and Swallows flash to and fro. It would appear the Moorhen nest in the willow has been washed away. Two Little Egrets are on the south bank. A single Cormorant is in the island trees. A pair of Oystercatchers are on the island in front of the southern hide. One seems to be on a nest, which is simply a scrape in the shingle. A Coot in a small clump of dead reeds seems to be gathering nest materials. A cock Ring-necked Pheasant wanders out onto the bank.
Back through the plantation. The paddock occupied by a couple of pigs has been completely dug up and one of the porkers is still rooting happily.
Home – French, climbing and runner beans have all been sowed in large pots and placed in the greenhouse. Cucumbers have also been sown. The greenhouse is pretty full now. Hopefully, the tomatoes can go into the ground soon and in the hanging baskets which have already been prepared. The crab apple is covered in blossom and being visited by bees. Hopefully, they will also be visiting the other fruit trees.
Sunday – Home – Both Tawny Owls were calling in the early hours. The cherry blossom in the street is already fading, covering the ground in white confetti.
Humber – Here to undertake the first round of the BTO Breeding Bird Survey. Garlic Mustard and Cow Parsley is in flower on the edge of the lane. Goldfinch, Wren and Blackbird sing. Across the road junction. A Dunnock is singing and a Whitethroat makes a churring sound. On down the Steen Bridge road. A Skylark rises in glorious song. Another Whitethroat is atop a telegraph pole. To the east, the sun is a blazing orange disc behind layers of cloud. A Yellowhammer sings. The Hazel hedge is coming into leaf. It starts to rain.
Down the short lane to Hill Top farm. Cows and their calves are in the field. A Robin sings from the wires. Four Stock Doves are on the cattle shed roof. Greater Stitchwort is in flower. The rain is now persistent. In the green burial ground, trees are becoming large and mature. Humber Brook is flowing deeper and faster than usual.
Through the village. The usual Jackdaws congregate around the church. Lime trees are coming into leaf and flower by the large 17th century Humber Court. Back along the roads to Stoke Prior school. A Weasel dashes across the road.
into the trees overlooking the railway. The Wren song falls silent and its alarm call starts. The water level in the River Lugg is still fairly high. Back up the steps of the bridge over the railway. The Sparrowhawk is in the tree close to the top of the steps and seems unfazed by my presence.
washers are screwed down around the top edge which should make it more secure. Of course, there are not enough washers so the job will have to be finished tomorrow. The lawnmower has its engine flushed with flushing oil and new oil added ready for the first cut. The grass is still wet at the moment, so it will have to wait. A Small White butterfly is visiting the first Daisies on the lawn.
the woods and meets another small flock heading north. They join up and all head south. Another Blackcap is singing in the lakeside trees.
Pippin apple. The usual suspects call in the street. Over the railway to Butts Bridge. Wrens, Blackcap, Great Tit, Mistle Thrush, Blue Tits and Chiffchaff are all in song. The water level in the River Lugg has hardly changed. Most trees are either in bud or leaf. A large ring of Field Mushrooms is on Lammas Meadow, sadly with no access. Dog Violets and Primroses flower in the undergrowth. Wild Arum have “flower” spikes, though few have unfurled to expose the brown spike within, a 
poker-shaped inflorescence called a spadix.
Valley. Primroses, Celandines, Anemones, Dandelions and Bluebells are all in flower. A Blackcap sings from a sapling.
The leaves on new growth are bright green but an old growth are darker with a purple tinge. A Chiffchaff is pecking at the underside of the new leaves. A white flash indicates the passing Jay which flies out across Yatton Common.
Whitethroat makes a churring sound. On down the Steen Bridge road. A Skylark rises in glorious song. Another Whitethroat is atop a telegraph pole. To the east, the sun is a blazing orange disc behind layers of cloud. A Yellowhammer sings. The Hazel hedge is coming into leaf. It starts to rain.