Category: in the woods

countryside · foxes in my garden · in the woods · wildlife

May: and the full glory of Spring

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)Leave a comment

There is something so exuberant and joyful about May, and this one in particular has been sublime as we’ve had such amazing weather, with each day warm, dry and sunny. The dependable sun has warmed the land and Spring has now arrived with a flourish. Everything is freshly green and blossoming, perfuming the breezes with an ever changing array of floral scents. Out in the woods the trees have grown a connected canopy of dense leaves and the lanes that we drive along on our way to and from the woods are once again secret, shady tunnels. It is such a beautiful time to be out in the countryside, so much is happening and every walk we go on brings new delights to see and enjoy. I’ve paid my annual spring visit to the orchard where I spent a wonderful few hours just wandering quietly with my camera. At lunch time I sat by the little pond and watched a pair of Canada geese shepherd their 5 small chicks across to the other side.

Back at home I’ve enjoyed my first garden knitting session of the season, it’s lovely to sit outside again on Toby’s swing and listen to the birds in the tree above me and I look forward to more gently swinging garden knitting time over the next few months.

The highlight of the month though was on May 2nd, when just after 8pm Katsue brought her cub with her for a visit, he’s quite shy but obviously just weaned on to solid foods as he ran over to investigate what his mum was eating. I had to take pictures through the window as he was very skittish and wary of us and we were all enthralled, holding our breath and hoping for the moment to last. I was so pleased that Amy got to see a cub this time as she missed the time that Kit brought her 3 cubs to visit. It seems that Katsue just has the one cub, as we’ve not seen any others and although she’s taking plenty of food away each time the cub has not been back to our garden for a couple of weeks. He’ll be hidden away somewhere safe, and growing a little each day under the watchful eye and dedicated care of his mum.

In knitting news there’s not much to tell. I’m so eager to share details on the latest animal design but I’m going to have to keep you in suspense just a little longer, as it is not yet close enough to being finished. We have however started photography so it is progressing. Once we’ve finished all of the shots and I’ve got the layouts done I’ll be in a position to reveal its identity.

Well, I hope that things have been good for you this last month and that the coming month brings some small joys your way. I’ll see you again in a few weeks with notes of what we’ve been up to in June, J x

Nature notes from May:

  • Week 1:  The bluebells are at their peak and filling the whole wood with their wonderful scent. May 3rd, heard the first cuckoo and saw newly emerged damsel flies. Buttercups and cowslips are out in the meadows. Oak galls are visible amongst the new oak leaves, in a month or so they’ll harden into small brown balls, but right now they are pretty and pink.
  • Week 2:  Hedgerows are in full froth, with hawthorn blossom (also known as May blossom) thick on the branches above and great drifts of cow parsley below. Saw the first swallows of the season, just arrived from their long journey from Africa. First dragonflies spotted at the Panshanger lake.
  • Week 3:  It’s apple blossom time and the old, gnarled trees at the orchard wear their most beautiful attire of the year. A thick carpet of pungent wild garlic covers the floor of the small wood, a beautiful galaxy of star like flowers.
  • Week 4:  The great tit chicks fledged the nest box into the big, wide world. Rain arrived at last, not much but so very needed after such a long dry spell, the petrichor smell is wonderful.
countryside · crafts & knitting · foxes in my garden · in the woods · wildlife

April: and the greening of the woods

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)1 Comment

 

 

The beginning of April was unseasonably dry and sunny here and it’s been lovely to feel the warmth of the sun again, but around the middle of the month the weather changed, ushering in the abrupt rain showers that April is best known for, something much appreciated by the garden snails. And this combination of warmth, sunshine and showers has brought about such a dramatic change in the countryside. Just a couple of weeks ago all was still bare, twiggy and brown out in the woods, but now everything has burst into leaf and flower, the woodland air is tinged with green and delicately scented, and birdsong weaves its way between the trunks.

We do the same 5 walks each week with Toby and it’s been so interesting to see the weekly change in the environment. It has really accelerated enormously this month, and the rapid spring growth in some plants is quite amazing. The first bracken fronds, nowhere to be seen just a week ago, are now almost a foot tall. And suddenly every verge and path margin is burgeoning green with all of the plants that would be called weeds if they were to spring up in a garden; nettles, dandelions, cleavers and clover.

One of my favourite spring flowers, the wood anemone, has carpeted a small wood for the early part of this month. The small flowers appear bell-like in overcast or wet weather and at night, but when the sun is shining they open fully and turn their faces towards the light, tracking it throughout the day. Apparently they are a marker of ancient woodland and it can take 100 years for them to spread just 6 feet, so this particular woodland with great drifts of them sprinkled throughout is precious and a marvellous sight. And it’s about to be superseded by the carpets of bluebells that are just emerging, they are the crowning glory of spring out in the woods.

Back at home Katsue has been here most days, she’s picked up an injury just above her tail (the opposite side to her broken foot) but it’s healing well and she is no longer pregnant so whether the cubs are alive is not yet known. She enjoys curling up for a nap after her snack and seems in no hurry to leave, but this does not mean that anything has happened to the cubs as foxes often share a den with another vixen and do pool litters to give each other some time off.

There has been a lot of knitting going on. Sock knitting continues to be a relaxing pastime when my brain needs a rest and I’ve enjoyed using some beautiful hand-dyed yarns in spring colours from The Knitting Shed to knit some very simple ‘don’t-need-to-think’ socks. But most of my available time is being spent on pattern writing. The 7 inch animals that I was working on are put aside for now and instead I’m continuing work on my new animal design, which is coming together slowly. I can’t show you progress yet as there are still wrinkles to be worked out, but hopefully next time I’ll be able to give you a hint 🙂

‘Til then keep well, and continue seeking small joys wherever you can find them, hopefully they appear for you when needed, J x

PS: I filmed a little of one of our walks at Panshanger, Toby was having fun and scaring me a little with his climbing antics too!

spring film

Nature notes from April:

  • Week 1:  Blackthorn is just beginning to blossom, the bright white buds opening to small star-like flowers. We spotted 9 butterflies on one particularly sunny walk; orange tips, brimstones, comas and peacocks all dancing delightfully along the woodland rides at Balls wood.
  • Week 2:  The blackthorn is at peak this week, with field boundary hedgerows enveloped in clouds of white blossom and buzzing with bees. Wood anemones are suddenly in flower, when I looked for them last week all I saw was the first leaves emerging from the leaf litter, but this week they are in full glory.
  • Week 3:  Great tits have begun nesting in our garden birdbox and I’ve seen the first robin chick of this year, perched on the fence. The bluebells are in flower, not yet open but small blue spires full of promise.
  • Week 4:  The blackthorn blossom is over now but hawthorn is taking it’s place. They have such similar flowers but whereas blackthorn blossoms on bare boughs hawthorn comes into leaf before its flowers open. Bluebells are now gloriously opening and the scent on our woodland walks is wonderful.
countryside · crafts & knitting · in the woods

A month for memories

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)1 Comment

October is a bitter-sweet month here in our household. We celebrate five family birthdays, two for both of my children who turn a year older, eight days apart at the beginning of the month, and three for family who are now just memories (my lovely Gangan and Gampy, and my father-in-law). It’s not then surprising that this month brings with it so many feelings of nostalgia and is brimming with memories from both my own childhood and those of my children, and I go about my days feeling grateful that I have such a deep well of happy memories to call to mind.

But then October is traditionally a month of reflection for many, with multiple festivals relating to remembrance spanning many different cultures. It is a liminal time between the bright, warm days of summer and winter’s cold and dark, a time for settling in, for gathering together what is needed to get through the harshest months of the year, for cosying up and for reminiscing. Here it’s a time for sweeping the chimney, stacking logs, batch cooking casseroles and soups and unpacking blankets and winter woollies from summer storage, and I busy myself with gathering together everything that comforts on cold, dark days.

Out in the countryside Autumn brings such melancholic beauty, with misty mornings and the colourful seasonal changes. It’s also an exciting time to be out in the woods and one of my favourites, due to the arrival of fungi underfoot. So it’s that time of year when I write my traditional toadstool blog post. Getting out into the woods and lying on my tummy in the wet moss in order to photograph their fantastical forms is one of my great autumnal pleasures. I am always delighted and surprised to see something that I’ve not seen before and even the types of toadstool and fungi that I do recognise are always different and amazing.

Coming back into the warmth and cosiness of home after getting chilled and damp in the woods is also a delicious pleasure. And curling up with my knitting as I start to warm up again is a comfort and delight. Pattern writing is happening in the quieter moments of my days and I hope to share some new patterns with you over the remaining months of this year, pictured above are some of the coats and cardigans I’m working on for the small 7 inch animals, and there are a couple of other clothing patterns in progress too. And in the evenings, when I’ve run out of brain power, simple and rhythmic sock knitting in autumnal colours is a soothing end to the day.

I’m reluctant to state it (just in case I jinx things) but we are beginning to feel on more of an even keel here. Toby is currently, for the most part, content and happier than he’s been for quite a while. I know that change is inevitable and always waiting around the corner but I hope this feeling of calm lasts, at least for a little while longer, as it’s brought such relief and comfort to me and is very much needed.

I hope that things are calm and comfortable where you are, thanks as always for visiting here with me, 

J x