Close to Home

In the circumstances I believe it unwise to talk a lot about positive aspects of lockdown, so many people have suffered under this and from this vicious virus.  As an aside I would say as much as we want to get rid of this virus I do hope no one takes seriously the pompous President of the United States of America when he suggests the injecting of disinfectants might be the answer.  I don’t believe for one second he didn’t mean it despite his back tracking.  Is this bloke for real?  I am sure one day we will all wake up and find that there is in fact a real man of substance in the White House.  Being overly positive at this time in respect to benefits to nature might sound as if I am a politician putting spin on an incredibly sad subject.  Nevertheless no one can ignore possible short-term benefits to the natural world from matters such as cleaner air, less traffic and the chance for some wildlife to gain some space away from constant pressure from Joe Public.  Add to this the fine weather, in the UK at least, and one can see how some, if of course not all, wildlife might benefit.  Apparently, in Thailand it has been noted that sea life is returning to areas long deserted because of throngs of holidaymakers lining the beaches.  This must be happening in many places now.  A temporary period of less pressure, but a much needed one.  I have certainly noticed more butterflies locally than there has been at this time of year in recent years.  Speckled Wood Butterflies seen in the garden are shown below, as is an Iris.  This Iris stems from Irises given to us by a neighbour in around 1976 when we were all collecting soil from an area of the village, to add to our muddy and rock-solid gardens.  The houses had just been built.  It is doing well this year as its fragility has not been hammered by April showers as per norm.

 I am pleased to say that two birds missing from my garden list in recent weeks, Wren and Coal Tit have returned.  The Wren was in full song yesterday, and a wonderful song it is.

My lockdown exercise included a recent walk down to the lake.  The highlight down there being the pair of Great Crested Grebes.  No line of photographers this year.  I noticed too that the Coot appears to be sitting on eggs, so the pairs coming together was a success in that respect.  I stood by the larger lake watching for Swallows and Sand Martins for several minutes before their calling was heard and they appeared in number from behind me, flying over the lake to feed.  The highlight of my walk was on my return journey.  As I approached the church grounds I picked up the song of Willow Warbler which the constant calling of Chiffchaff failed to drown out.  I eventually caught sight of the bird, lit by the sun and gleaning between song bursts.  I entered the church grounds and stood under the tree in dappled sunlight.  Apart from bird song there was silence.   The bright new foliage of the tree giving some shade.  I listened to the song for several minutes before moving on towards home.  For those minutes, my mind had focussed solely on the song of the Willow Warbler and all seemed normal and well with the world.  I felt as refreshed as I had done for a long time, as I once more settled in to lockdown.  Nature is a wonderful relaxant as is poetry, as I am finding out.