My legs are somewhat scratched and punctured from the last session of bramble-bashing down by the stream, before the nesting season starts. I found a nest from last year, song thrush, carefully constructed of grass and lined with clay. We uncovered yet more swan mussel shells on the bank, probably more otter feeding sites. Anthony pointed out snaking patterns in the mud at the bottom of the stream, formed by the mussels in their filter feeding.
Celandine are now coming out all along the stream, there are cuckoo pint leaves under most hedges, and Alison says she's seen a patch of white violets under the hedge down in the southeast corner of the estate. I later found another patch along the stream, sheltering under an ancient hawthorn where the brambles were cleared last year, and a comma sunning itself. I can't tell the difference between male and female, but its behaviour probably indicates male waiting for a female to pass.
Last, but not least, there is a small patch of common or garden daisies near the orchard.
Between September 2010 and September 2011, I lived alongside an Anglican Benedictine community of monks and nuns. In November 2010, we moved from Broad Marston Manor near Evesham to Mucknell Abbey, a new eco-monastery near Worcester. This blog was about things that I observed and things that interested me. I have now stopped writing it. Thank you to all who were also interested.
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