The Sebright Club
  • Welcome
    • Our Committee
    • Site Map
  • In The News
  • Fact
    • A Potted History
    • More about Sir John Sebright
    • Breed Standard
    • Breeders Directory
    • Show Dates & Results >
      • 2020 Results
      • 2019 results
      • 2018 results
      • 2017 Results
      • 2016 Results
      • 2015 Results
      • 2014 Results
      • 2013 Results
      • 2012 Results
      • 2011 Results
      • 2010 Results
    • Reading Matter
    • News Articles
    • Sebrights At Home
    • Artist's Corner
  • Photos
    • Photos 2018
    • Photos 2017
    • Photos 2016
    • Photos 2015
    • Photos 2014
    • Photos 2013
    • Photos 2012
    • Photos 2011
    • The Federation 2011
    • The National 2011
    • The National & Federation 2010
  • Fiction
    • Gordon & Sylvia's Diary
    • The Red Fluffy Earmuffs
    • A Seasonal Tale
  • Fun
  • Store
  • Contact Us
    • Membership Form

Spring

20/3/2015

 
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.
Picture
Catkins and shiny ivy leaves
Picture
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.
Picture
A beautiful clump of primroses
Picture
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.
Picture
Robin in his best bib and tucker
Picture
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.
Picture
By the old pond -
Picture
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

Comments are closed.

    About Us

    Hello! My name is Gordon and I am a Gold Sebright and my best friend is Sylvia. She is a Silver Sebright. We live with our foster parents on a small farm in the country.  We thought that we would put our take on life and what we get up to through the year into a diary for you. All the characters are real and the events are a true record,  interpreted with a modicum of poetic licence. We hope you enjoy it. Love Gordon and Sylvia

    You can also follow us on Facebook -
    Gordon Sebright
    or on Twitter -
    @GordonSebright
     

    Archives

    December 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    November 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011

Website by Gordon Sebright