It was a very dramatic month in terms of weather. It was the mildest February since 1884, (MET Office) but had far more rainfall than average. On the 18th the full moon lit up the sky and for the Scottish people in particular lived up to its name of Snow Moon, as the heavy snows cut off many homes. Some North American tribes call it Hunger Moon, due to the scarcity of food at this time but it is also known as Storm Moon, aptly named this February as three major storms appeared in one week; Storm Dudley, Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin. ‘A particularly stormy spell’ as the MET Office described it, having issued two red warnings; considered a danger to life. Cornwall received its fair share of crazy, wild winds and torrential rain but it was Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England that took the worst of all the storms. Thousands of homes were without power, severe flooding, schools’ closures, all forms of travel were cancelled and in London the Mayor issued a ‘do not travel warning’.
The main eye of all the storms passed us by but our field was battered by relentless winds for days and eventually flattened two of our young Juniper trees. We could see clearly the line of the wind tunnels in our field, very useful information for siting the polytunnel and we are now revising our plans.
As a child living in London, February always seemed like the bleakest of months. It was cold, dark, damp and Spring was nowhere to be seen, due to arrive sometime far away in May. In all the decades of living in various rural outbacks I have never felt that despair. To me February comes with a powerful scent of hope, the ground alive with signs of growth, birds active with their nest making, early buds appearing on bare branches – it holds all the potential needed for the explosion of growth that is about to appear. There are more minutes of daylight at each end of the day, with the birds singing earlier to celebrate this much yearned for gift. From January 18th there is an extra hour of daylight each month and that carries on until June. Admit it, it’s a great month.
In the field, nature has been busy. The goat willow is covered with the soft buds of pussy willow, the elder too is in bud. The bright green alexanders are thrusting upwards with many flower heads forming, daisies and dandelions are emerging and the celandine is coming up in gangs all over the field and hedgerows and that faithful beast, the pink campion continues to grow and grow, there is never a month in which the pink campion is not present. The large ash trees, still skeletal, have housed dozens of rooks in the evenings, hanging around with each other and chattering away and then, they all go. No idea where. This is the season for patching up old nests and I’m told that rooks breed early, which probably accounts for all their activity at the moment. I’m also told that rooks mate for life – who knew? Well, not me. This is normal behaviour for corvids but not for the average British bird. I’ve also spotted the greater spotted woodpecker drumming away on some dead wood and had a sighting of the barn owl in the early evening. A few solitary bumble bees, large in size, have been seen close to the ground and a red admiral on two occasions. It could be the same red admiral each time or two separate butterflies, only time will tell.
But the big story this month is the fungi. Not the edible kind, I’ve been looking at the species that grow on the dead wood. The mild and damp weather must have given them a new burst of life because they appear to be forming families in many different areas all over the place. Fungi is part of a group of organisms called decomposers, without which the entire ecosystem would struggle to function – so no pressure on the fungi then. The World Economic Forum describes fungi as ‘a family of superheroes, whose powers range from fighting cancer to cleaning up pollution’ and ‘a form of tree fungus has been hailed as a possible defence against bio chemical weapons’, thus putting our so called intelligence into perspective. Their basic job is to break down dead plants, trees and animals, allowing it to become part of the humus layer which helps create good soil to feed future generations of trees and plants. There are hefty tomes that have been written about fungi - I am aware that I am glossing over quite a bit here. I have managed to name a few of the fungi lying around on the dead wood, most of which come under the umbrella term of polypores. I have found many different versions of turkeytails, which look exactly like, guess what? Yes, turkey tails. Glorious colours from slate blues to pinks, corals and ochres. We also have Dryad’s saddle, which sounds very like a health issue and a few Blushing brackets. My next mission is to search out Hen of the Woods and Chicken of the Woods, both edible. The Hen version is prized for its rich mushroom taste and the Chicken variety, as its name suggests, can be used in many recipes to replace chicken. Just saying.
(Information on edibles supplied by wildfoodie.co.uk).
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