May came galloping in, bringing appalling weather, floods a plenty, cold nights, No Mow May, Dawn chorus Day, Flower Moon, Beltane, (or May Day), hedgerows dripping with blooms, grasses of all shades, hungry birds and homeless bees. In 2006 the poet Wendy cope wrote a poem about this month.
'The month of May, the merry month of May,
So long awaited, and so quickly past,
The winter's over, and it's time to play.
I saw a hundred shades of green today,
And everything that Man made was outclassed,
The month of May, the merry month of May.
So carpe diem, gather buds, make hay,
The world is glorious. Compare, contrast
December with the merry month of May,
Now is the time, now is the time to play'.
That pretty much sums it up for me, except of course, the weather and the growth does not allow for rest or play. Even with No Mow May, it is an exceedingly busy time of year for experienced and amateur gardeners alike. The Hawthorn bushes were magnificent, and amongst the Bee keepers/farmers fraternity, it was thought to be responsible for the explosion in the number of Bee colonies this year.
We had a swarm visit us on one of the warm days at the end of May. They made the unwise decision to build a new home in our barn, an old cobb building with two foot walls. According to our local Bee experts, they will die in there over Winter because the nest is built in the crevices of the wall, which will offer no protection for them in the colder months. Under instructions from the experts, we tried to tempt them out with various alternative homes, but to no avail. We have one further local expert to visit later in the Summer, with the hope that he can move them to a better home.
Swarming is the natural way for honey bees to ensure the survival of the colony; the older Queen leaves with half the worker bees to find a new home, leaving the new, young Queen to replace her mother, dividing one to produce two colonies. The whole process is brilliantly clever and horribly savage, ending with the new Queen fighting all the other potential Queen Bees by stinging them to death. Not much sign of the sisterhood being alive and well in the hive.
Moving on to slightly less bloodthirsty behaviour, out in the field there has been a glorious riot of colour and activity. The orchard and the hedges are dripping with fruits, berries and flowers. The field has the usual array of Docks, Creeping Thistle and Ragwort but in much reduced quantities compared with the last few years and the thistle is much smaller in size. I have no idea as to why this might be happening. The big winners this year are the Ox Eye Daisy, Ground Ivy and the Hoary Mustard plant, all of which have been prolific. There is a sea of the daisies cascading down the field, the ivy has cast a blue shade over vast areas alongside the hedges and the mustard plant has gone insane reaching heights of over two metres high in some areas of the garden. The Campions, the Foxgloves, the Cranesbill, the Violets and Mayweed have also put on a good show.
The birds have been at their busiest, producing numerous broods and inspite of the hedges being laden with food, they have been filling their faces at the feeders. Greenfinches have made their presence known in much greater numbers - previously we only saw one or two each season. We now have several appearances each day. Add to that the Magpie, the Woodpecker, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Long tailed Tit, Wrens, Sparrows, Chiffchaffs, Blackbirds, Robins, Goldfinch, the occasional Jay, Wood Pigeon, Crows, Ravens, a good many Buzzards and now and again a sighting of the Kestrel. The spiders have also been very active and in the early morning the field is covered with dozens of sheet webs, ready and waiting to catch the fallen bugs. In addition we have discovered a family of stoats living (and playing) in part of the old farm buildings which is now rubble. The dogs have been very interested in this new family, the rabbits are not best pleased. They are often on the dinner menu for these new visitors - I'm not saying anything, but sometimes nature really is your best friend.
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