March 2023

The sporadic moments of warmth we had in February which held such promise for March, quickly faded away as the bitter, cold weather arrived early in the month. Snow arrived in Bristol and in the North of England, here on The Lizard it was dry and bitterly cold. Warm days visited us in mid March lulling the plum trees into full blossom but sadly we then got hit by a blast of wet and windy weather, (the wettest since 1836 according to the MET), and in two days the trees were stripped of blossom. Another year without a plum in sight I fear. Several trees came down in the woods behind Kennack Sands, where I take my regular morning dog walk.

The birds in the field and surrounding woods continue to grow in confidence with their songs. Chiffchaffs have joined the merry throng. I found out that they eat midges, flies and caterpillars, they sound like the perfect guests to me. Now that our Winters are becoming increasingly warm, many Chiffchaffs choose to stay and overwinter here in Britain rather than make the trip to Sub - Saharan Africa and who can blame them? That's a lot of miles to fly for a bird that is said to weigh as little as a £1 coin. To date, there have been no Chiffchaffs here during the Winter, their song became noticeable during this month and occasionally I saw them flit through the trees. I've learnt to recognise them via their habit of constantly wagging their tails. By the end of the month the Dawn Chorus was starting to really swing, the best time to catch this lovely greeting to the day is up to an hour after sunrise. Robins, song thrushes and blackbirds are the first early risers and our hedges and trees are home to many of these birds. The Blackbird song is particularly tuneful at this time of year, with a rich, fruity sound, designed to attract a mate. Females choose the bird with the strongest and most impressive song, on the assumption that this means it has a good territory, will pass on strong genes to their young and is more likely to be good at raising their young - not convinced that this is the best test but then, I'm not a blackbird. Just as well, given that they can raise up to 4 broods each season.

There has been more activity in the bird world further up the road on The Lizard. There is a big celebration of twenty years of Chough breeding in Cornwall. They had become extinct in the 1970's but in 2001 three choughs turned up at Bass Point and there are now 200 of them all around Cornwall. Volunteers worked around the clock to keep them safe and protect them in the early years. An astounding feat driven by a small and committed community of concerned nature lovers. The Chough is on the county's coat of arms, alongside the miner and the fisherman and the story that accompanies the presence of the bird is that King Arthur, having met a bloody end in battle, changed into a chough, the red feet and beak representing the blood spilt. The Cornish name for a Chough is Palores which means 'Digger', referring to its habit of digging in the earth for its food. One of the reasons for its previous demise was the change in farming habits. Farmers moved their stock inland from the cliff tops which meant the ground became overgrown and Choughs need a short cropped turf to feed on various inverterbrates found in the soil. For centuries before this, farmers had allowed their sheep and ancient cattle breeds like Dexters to graze all through the year on the cliff tops. The National Trust has brought back ponies to the cliffs to graze around The Lizard, not just for the Choughs but also to support the colonies of rare wildflowers that are found in the area when the turf is cropped.

Back here on the farm, the wildflowers continue to emerge; vast colonies of Lesser Celandine and primroses, ferns bursting forth down by the river and in the damp wooded areas, glimpses of blue from Bugle spreading across the ground, the gorse out in bright yellow and the faint smell of onion coming from the Three Cornered Leeks that are not yet fully present. I noticed large clumps of lush leaves bursting forth that looked like a giant form of Sorrel. Luckily I decided not to add this to the salad bowl and instead I looked up my trusty 'Forager's Calendar' by John Wright, which is an absolute mine of helpful information. I found out that the leaves posing as Sorrel were the poisonous 'Lords and Ladies'. The leaves on this plant are young at this point in early Spring and mimic those of Sorrel, (they both have backward pointing lobes) and often without any sign of the recognisable flower. 'The treacherous leaves of this plant are only young in late winter and early spring, so in summer and autumn there is never a cause for confusion'. Thanks to John Wright for that information, Summer and Autumn it is, for harvesting Sorrel.