The Crete Nature Blog is back... but
with a difference. It may not always be coming from Crete. So maybe
it should be renamed The Crete Plus Nature Blog. Life is a-changing
for me at the moment and this coming year is going to be a bit of an
adventure, mainly because I haven't got a clue what's in store but I
have a feeling that there may be some dramatic and abrupt changes.
Watch this space!
But what better way to start the year
than a walk in the English countryside on a bright and frosty
morning?
This is Wordsworth country; Cockermouth
in Cumbria and along the roadside verges a 'host of golden daffodils'
are showing their first shoots through the frozen soil ready to burst
forth in the first days of Spring.
The trees that will bring a shady green
canopy against the hot summer sun show intricate patterns of denuded
branches against a Forget-Me-Not sky.
This far north, 54.7°,
the morning sun is very low in the sky and illuminates the moss on
this branch overhanging Bitter Beck at an oblique angle.
Whereas
here, in this little copse the sunlight hardly penetrates at all and
eldritch faces grin down from the sylvan gloom.
But
let us return now to a warm fire and a hot cup of tea and pause a
while en route to look at two of the symbols of the Yuletide just
passed. The holly in full berry sustaining the birds through the rest
of the winter. They prefer sweeter berries but blackbirds, waxwings,
thrushes and robins will all partake.
And
talking of the Robin, a more recent symbol of Christmas as opposed to
Yule, here is one perching in somebody's front garden.
The
daffodils, the trees, the birds and even the hot cup of tea that we
are going home to drink wouldn't be here without the insects and
their allies. So this year let us look after our creepy-crawlies, as
they have been looking after us throughout our entire existence. If
they go, we go. It's as simple as that and what better way to start
than getting to know a little bit about the magnificent world of the
very small? A complete overview of this often overlooked but vital
part of our lives can be found here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1694436756
Crete Nature Catch-up
Welcome back. Have a fabulous 2020. X
ReplyDeleteThank you Jules, you too.
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