After a conversation with Ads yesterday I was listening for birds this morning as I loaded the car to drive home. Although there are still traces of snow on the ground there was a skylark overhead for about half an hour, singing at different heights with its powerful recognisable song. Can you normally hear skylarks at this time of year? I'm not sure but I certainly normally associate them with summer days and the sand dunes of the Norfolk coast. We walked up to the top of the hill in Claxton yesterday to watch the beautiful sunset before tea, and we watched hares and silhouetted partridges running over the top rim of the sloping fields, it really is such beautiful countryside. The snowdrops and acconites are out in force in Mum's wood in Strumpshaw and she has organised snowdrop walks to see them this weekend. She has been steadily splitting up and spreading the bunches around the wood for more than 30 years and they now carpet most of woodland floor, dominating the landscape in the few short weeks before the wild garlic takes over. Returning to Somerset in the dark this evening I am also excited to see that there are 11 frogs in the pond, a very clear sign that they think that the worst of winter is behind us.
Yes, definitely skylarks singing around and about. Apparently they can be heard in every month of the year although mostly late winter to mid-summer. I shall be recording them this year...
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