A greater connection with the natural world has been one of the few benefits of lockdown. We have spent more time in the garden and walking or cycling through the countryside. Springwatch has inspired many to notice the wildlife around us and Gardeners World has given us great ideas for our gardens.
Lockdown started in spring when we had glorious summer weather. We watched the trees turn green as their leaves came out and flowers blossomed. We had beautiful spring flowers, daffodils, tulips, muscari, etc. Those have now been replaced with beautiful roses and hoards of wild red poppies, among other things, in my garden. The flowers attract a wide variety of bees and flies, but sadly, not many butterflies. Now, after all the rain the grass is a lovely bright green having been quite brown.
The flock of sparrows with their young empty our feeders every day, while pigeons hang around beneath collecting up what they drop. This morning a kestrel came to the feeder, hoping to catch a sparrow, and we have had a spotted woodpecker and a jay there too. Other avian visitors include goldfinches, various tits, dunnocks, robins, collared doves. We see buzzards, gulls, oyster catchers and house martins flying overhead. And now there are skylarks in the fields. It is good to see swans nesting by the Waveney. Sadly we have not seen a barn owl this year.
After dark there is sometimes a deep call - not quite a bark, not a dog and too deep for a fox, coming from near the by-pass. I have concluded that it is a roe deer. Can anyone confirm this?
Georgina Frost
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