Rosemary Staples on Levin Down
April 2006
Blackthorn!
Spring
is still dragging its heels, in case you hadn't noticed. Although there
is plenty going on in our gardens there is still not a lot going on up
on Levin Down. The blackthorn is only just starting to break into flower
(at least three weeks later than usual) and there will be masses of
cowslips in a week or two but they are only just starting to pop their
flower buds up. What everything needs is plenty of warm sunshine with
some nice gentle rain now and then - that includes me! The ash trees
have got lots of flower on them. It is rather an unusual flower. It
starts off as hard black knob like buds which burst out into a little
froth of purple flowers which turn pale green. Do try to get a close up
if you can. Of course the brave little violets are now out in force,
scattered everywhere like blue sapphires with the occasional splash of
white ones. What would we do without them? They light up our lives,
don't they?
I must not forget to tell you that the very next day after I sent in my
ramblings last month, having said that we had not seen an adder yet, lo
and behold (!) in a very rare patch of sunlight there was a very dozy
lady adder, which we saw for two days, but haven't seen since.
I know I said not much is going on up on Levin Down, but it would appear
that that is not true and I haven't talked about the butterflies yet! We
start to count them from the beginning of April and thought there would
be nothing. However, we have seen several brimstones, commas, red
admirals and a few small tortoiseshells. Not bad considering.
Must go, am on the deadline again, but just a little reminder of the
Horticultural Society walk on Levin Down on May 13th. Hope to see some
of you there and do log on to the VALLEYDIARY web site at
www.valleydiary.org. There are some wonderful photos of the valley taken
in the '40's and '50's. It is a great site to browse through, thanks to
Tim. Bye, Bye.