Outdoors Les Davies MBE

West Countryman’s diary

IT’Sthe end of February and on into March, named after Mars the Roman God of war. Also known to the Anglo-Saxons as the “loud” or “stormy” month. With such credentials as these, it’s easy to see why it gets the reputation of “coming in like a lion and out like lamb”! If Mendip is to have snow, March is a likely month, but as those who know the Mendip climate will testify, these hills have their own weather system and will guard it jealously.

If the snow comes from the direction of France, then we shall, like as not get a share, but coming from the east, it’s the Cotswolds that will stop most of it. Having made such bold statements, I shall no doubt be proved wrong. No, surely not!

This is also the time of year when the countryside starts to wake up. The early sun will bring some welcome relief from the cold and wet. Nature will then snatch it back and laugh at us for getting too excited too soon.

It’s a time when birds think about nesting and none more so than the blackbird, who will always catch me out with my late scrub clearance, by building in the bramble bush. The bushes and trees begin to come alive and I will hope for a little more cold weather to hold back the apple trees until I have managed to complete the pruning.

In the bottom of the hedgerow, nature has other ideas as lesser celandine shows its golden head above the grass in the warm shelter out of the wind. It’s here that things start to get a hold. The violets, both purple and white make their presence felt. Primroses begin to cover the ground in preparation for the riot of colour that we hope April will herald in.

The mad March hare can be seen running in wild chases and leaping energetically. They stand on their back legs and box in the most comical way, although there is nothing cute or comical in these engagements. Hares will breed at any time of the year, so this spectacle may be a struggle for social dominance or a female, a Jill, rebuffing an overzealous male, a Jack.

Brown hare were once a common sight on the grassland. Numbers have declined as modern, faster machinery takes a toll on the infant population, while faster roads and an increasing amount of housing development puts them under more pressure.

The hare is also the quarry of the poacher and his dogs. These questionable characters have very little knowledge of the countryside way of life and even less respect for it.

With the promise of spring just around the corner, the evenings are starting to open up and summer time will begin at the end of the month. As always I wonder where the time goes. Writing this in the middle of February, I am chasing my orchard work and trying to get ahead. Not only the pruning, but planting as well.

Up until now we haven’t had a real winter and in a normal period I would have expected to see many more birds in the orchards. There are a few redwing and of course the ever present starlings. These birds amuse and amaze me. Just how they communicate I haven’t a clue.

I don’t see them on the mobile phone, posting pictures and comments about where they are or what they are eating on Facebook, so can only assume there is some sort of telepathy involved. A few moments watching these birds is time well spent.

They will sit in the surrounding trees and are totally consumed by what I can only describe as idle chatter. Then in a moment the whole flock will descend onto the grass, falling like a shower of rain as the birds move forward and land.

Yet more idle chatter as they strut about feeding and then as suddenly as they alighted, all the chatter stops as the whirr of wings gets them airborne and moving onto the next patch. The

With LES DAVIES MBE

evening murmuration is a sight to behold, as the birds flock together for protection and fly to the roosting sites on the moor.

The whole flight twists and turns in a bid to confuse any predators. Just who orchestrates these manoeuvres, or how, I haven’t a clue. I have seen this put to music, although not by the starlings. The twisting, fluid movement of the birds is almost “Amoeba” like, constantly changing and moving in the night sky until they find the place to roost for the night.

Fully rested overnight, they begin the whole process all over again. So always remember, if you think your life lacks a little bit of lustre and variety, just give thanks that you are not a starling!

With March arriving I will need to think about the vegetable patch. As always it will be new potatoes, shallots and onions in the vanguard. I tried a few different crops last time with varying success. Most gets given away, but that is part of the pleasure, when you can give home grown produce to neighbours and friends.

One of my neighbours has my blackberries to make gin with, so every year around Christmas I will find a bottle on the doorstep with a label tied around the neck. Written on this label is a simple, but heartfelt message: To “Les from the Gin Fairy”. Good here isn’t it!

Finally this month’s picture comes from an orchard at Butleigh near Glastonbury. With everything wassailed and woken up, it’s time to make sure I thin out the excessive growth and give the trees a good start to the season.

This is real pruning without a pair of secateurs in sight… just the trusty pole saw!