Peak Snowdrop

An accidental display. We did not set out to produce a snowdrop bank, but rescuing topsoil from land that was to be built on, and hastily putting it wherever seemed reasonable, has resulted in just that - getting denser and denser, year by year, despite depredations of chickens, squirrels and who knows what else (rats - do they take an interest? - no idea). I collected some excavated bulbs during the winter and buried them elsewhere - is this symbiosis?

A friend who studies these things tells me that cowslip seeds are coated with sugar to attract ants. The ants carry the seeds away, consume the sugar and discard the seed - pleasingly remote from the parent plant, as far as the cowslip is concerned. In an age when we are rightly concerned about all the loss of biodiversity during our lifetimes, cowslip seems to me to be a species that has bucked the trend - much more common now than it was 60 years ago. I don't know if there is data to bear that out, or why it should be so

My friend has written a long submission (including this example) to his county council about their local nature recovery strategy. This is a consultation that is taking place nationally (England), but at local level, to try to create initiatives to rescue the country from its nature-depleted state. In the cacophony of news about war, politics and mayhem, this has been neglected. I have no special insight, but I hope it has some success. It is a daunting challenge at a time when our national infrastructure is crumbling on all sides, our economy is moribund and external threats multiply by the hour

Spring approaches; the air is warmer; the aconites on the right - still yellow - are almost over; the yellow crocus under the tree appeared overnight; the evergreen shrub needs a spring trim; great tits have been fighting their reflection in the shed window; the green roof above it needs a visit to assess its needs, before new growth begins. It's not nature recovery, but it all makes a grey day feel more cheerful