Daffodils are blooming around the village and in my garden, and bluebells carpet the borders among the herbaceous plants. Early in the mornings I can hear the birds singing. Today I was pleased to see a butterfly fluttering among the early flowers. The RSPB ran the Big Garden Birdwatch in January again and householders reported many small birds like coal tits and long-tailed tits flying into gardens to feed on food they had put out for them.
With the exception of our hill birds – for example, the golden eagle and the ptarmigan – I could easily believe that our wild birds do not like too much solitude. When I have been walking in the Northumbrian hills and in the Highlands, the farther I go into remoteness, the fewer the birds. Walk around a loch now, where winter has barely gone, and you are likely to see only a few species of birds. As spring reaches the hills in May, there will be more species and these will be more visible.
In my own garden, a local gardener has told me not to grow the same vegetable or potatoes in the same place year after year. Sensible advice, because when one crop has taken nourishment, such as phosphate or sulphur, a different crop may need different nutrients to grow well. Also, particular weeds infest certain crops, and if the same crop is grown in a plot time after time, these weeds will increase and become more troublesome. Another sensible reason for change every few years is that when a crop is changed, the soil can be hoed or dug over and control is wrested back.