True to March, the east wind has been blowing over Wattlebury in various guises this week. There are many reasons for this chilly wind of course - for one it helps scatter the pollen from the long tassels of the catkin. And it blows its cold breath through the trees and bushes so as to move winter's withered legacy on and give the spring buds room to open in all their glory. As our prevailing wind is from the west it lifts and moves the accumulated leaves to give the ground a good airing in its dry and chilly path. The bare maize fields on the Wattlebury Estate are waiting for another month before they are ploughed and re-sown, but the wheat fields have already been ploughed and tilled - and will be seeded as soon as the ground warms up a little.
 Catkins and shiny ivy leaves |  The bare maize field waiting to be ploughed |
The first flowers of spring are adapted to coping with March. The violets and celandines who seek the nourishment of the soft humus of dead leaves are well protected by the latter and the beautiful primrose will often be found with her roots in a decaying tree stump for added shelter.
The wild arum - 'cuckoo-pint' or 'lords-and-ladies' is a very strange plant. Its glossy green leaves spotted with purple are sprouting up willy-nilly and soon the purple spadex will appear, partially enclosed in a pale green leaf-like hood. The flowers are hidden from sight, clustered at the base of the spadex with a ring of female flowers at the bottom and a ring of male flowers above them. Above the male flowers is a circle of hairs forming an insect trap. The spadex has a temperature rather higher than the surrounding air and also a peculiar smell. Flies are tempted to come and warm their feet and then crawl down the spadex past the ring of short threads - and this prevents them from crawling back! Inside the bulb of the sheath they stay for some time, carrying the pollen from the anthers to the pistils of the female flowers that are at the base of the spadex. What a clever plant! In the autumn the female flowers form a cluster of bright red berries which remain after the spathe (the 'hood') and other leaves have withered away. These attractive bright red to orange berries are extremely poisonous.
The wild arum - 'cuckoo-pint' or 'lords-and-ladies' is a very strange plant. Its glossy green leaves spotted with purple are sprouting up willy-nilly and soon the purple spadex will appear, partially enclosed in a pale green leaf-like hood. The flowers are hidden from sight, clustered at the base of the spadex with a ring of female flowers at the bottom and a ring of male flowers above them. Above the male flowers is a circle of hairs forming an insect trap. The spadex has a temperature rather higher than the surrounding air and also a peculiar smell. Flies are tempted to come and warm their feet and then crawl down the spadex past the ring of short threads - and this prevents them from crawling back! Inside the bulb of the sheath they stay for some time, carrying the pollen from the anthers to the pistils of the female flowers that are at the base of the spadex. What a clever plant! In the autumn the female flowers form a cluster of bright red berries which remain after the spathe (the 'hood') and other leaves have withered away. These attractive bright red to orange berries are extremely poisonous.
 A beautiful clump of primroses |  The wild Arum |
Our Friend, Robin is looking very dapper and we are sure that it will be no time at all before he is snapped up by a mate. Mrs Jenny Wren is hard at work making a most secretive nest in the ivy on the old damson tree. Mr and Mrs Blackbird have long been gathering nesting material and two fine Mallard drakes have been courting one rather sleek duck on the old pond. I wonder which one she will choose? High in our old Christmas tree patch the Jackdaws are making their infernal clattering as they repair and re-build their nests for spring 2015. The Jackdaw is a highly gregarious bird and males and females pair-bond for life and stay together within flocks. They congregate at dusk for communal roosting - all the squabbles over the best twig of the day long-forgotten.
 Robin in his best bib and tucker |  The Jackdaws nest-building in the highest ash trees |
And each day as you take the path to Wattlebury village and look across the woodland floor the verdant leaves of the bluebells-in-waiting are turning the brown carpet of winter into the green luxuriant of summer.
 By the old pond - |  from brown to green |
Well today is the March Equinox and there is also a total eclipse of the sun right now (09.30 a.m.) - so things must be looking up. And if it weren't so jolly cloudy, I would be too! Gordon xx
