Brother Bluebell, Brother Bird and Sister Deer

Over half of the world’s bluebells are to be found in the UK, I recently learned, so it is very special indeed when these beautiful flowers come into bloom in April/May.

Bluebells, in Ercall Wood, Shropshire, April 2022

When seen in abundance, as in this photo, I’m sure you’ll agree they are breath-taking!

And you might be wondering why “Brother Bluebell”… It’s a reference to Francis of Assisi’s beautiful poem sometimes known as “The Canticle of the Sun”, where he praises “Brother Sun”, “Sister Moon”, and so on. He feels a kinship with the natural world.

And there’s something like that sense of kinship when your heart beats a bit faster, on seeing bluebells, or suddenly coming across wild deer (they had retreated to the top of the field in this photograph…

…but as I continued through the wood I had a much closer encounter!…)

And at the end of this day’s walk, I was delighted by another tiny goldcrest (see the post ‘Grateful for a Little Thing’ for the last time I encountered one of these, here )

And also a nuthatch…

…who went on, true to its name, to “hack” (“hatch”) a nut into the bark of the tree – this photo captures the moment when the nut was still in the beak…

Our kinship with flora and fauna is precious indeed.

I hope you are inspired to get out and seek some brothers and sisters of your own!

If you live in Shropshire, parking for this walk is beyond the main Wrekin car park, driving away from Wellington. Pull in by a barrier, head off left through the bluebells and follow path up. When you eventually walk alongside the golf course, look out for a path up the bank to the right after 100m or so, then go left at the junction (i.e. not down into the valley), which will take you round to the right eventually where get glimpses of the open field where the deer were. Keep following the path through the wood, then, eventually, right again at a T junction to take you down the hill and back to the road to where you parked.

Local Beauties

It’s easy to miss the everyday wonders.

Small brown birds are so common in the UK (and perhaps beyond!) that many birdwatchers call them “LBJs” (“little brown jobs”!), but on a recent early walk around the Rea Brook in Shrewsbury, the sweetness of this drab dunnock caught my attention, and he was so busy singing he let me capture his plain beauty:

Everyone knows a blackbird, but their song can be so magical in the dawn stillness, empty of all human noise. This one was really pouring out his heart!

And finally, the humble woodpigeon. They look chubby, comical, and are easily dismissed as common-all-garden – and yet the rays of the sun highlighted the iridiscence on this bird’s neck as it sat beautifully framed in spring blossom:

What are your local beauties?

Or do you need to go looking and listening with fresh eyes and ears?

Grateful for a Little Thing

The goldcrest is the smallest bird in the UK, at just 9cm long and weighing as little as a 20 pence piece! And they are very tricky to photograph as they don’t stay still for long and seem to enjoy staying as hidden as possible, as my first two attempts below show!

But recently a goldcrest has been visiting my garden – presumably there is a nest nearby – almost always to the same paving stone, to look for food, hop around quickly, and then, again quickly, fly off!

I couldn’t believe the opportunity one morning when I had my camera to hand. The shot isn’t brilliant as it’s taken through a window. And yet what an excting moment it was, to capture the lovely goldcrest in full view, with that wonderful bright yellow crest on its head.

I was very grateful for this experience, even though it was such a “little thing”!

Gratefulness

David Steindl-Rast is not a well-known writer in the UK but his book Gratefulness is the best I’ve read on this topic. He shares a childhood experience, surviving bombing raids in Nazi-occupied Austria:

“…Unable to find an air-raid shelter quickly, I rushed into a church only a few steps away. To shield myself from shattered glass and falling debris, I crawled under a pew … I felt sure that the vaulted ceiling would cave in any moment and bury me alive…A steady tone of the siren announced the danger was over … And there I was, stepping out into a glorious May morning … My eyes fell on a few square feet of lawn in the midst of all this destruction. It was as if a friend had offered me an emerald in the hollow of his hand. Never before or after have I seen grass so surprisingly green.”
p.10

Recently I was commuting to work on a quiet spring morning, and I passed the most extraordinary scene shown in the photograph. You do not always need a near-death experience to feel gratitude! But how many people drove out of Shrewsbury that morning and did not stop to gaze in awe at the sunrise?

Mist was rolling mysteriously down the river. The trees were silhouetted. And a bright March sun illuminated the whole scene, rising over The Wrekin.

Brother David Stendl-Rast helped to set up a beautiful website devoted to gratefulness, and you can visit it here.

And look out for those surprising moments that fill our hearts with gratitude!

Whose Are The Hills?

Spring surrounds us with life, with wild life, and of course with wildlife!

On a recent visit to The Long Mynd in Shropshire (Townbrook Hollow), each encounter seems now to ask the question – whose are the hills? There were people about, and yet really the hills belong to the other inhabitants, some of whom feature below.

A red kite glided into sight, wheeling around dramatically in front of a distant Wrekin:

Looking the other way, a group of wild ponies were galloping across the slopes:

Lambs were everywhere – this was April, after all. Their curiosity is so winning: this one bravely stared at me as I snapped a shot:

But the best was saved till last: a large group of wild ponies, gathered picturesquely, firstly with Brown Clee behind them:

And then with Caer Caradoc behind. There was a very young foal in this group, still rather wobbly on its legs, still feeding occasionally from its very protective mother:

Whose are the hills?

On this occasion, I think, they belong to the ponies!

A Richness of Wildlife

The Severn is so rewarding in its richness of wildlife and flora.

I love to spy on the shy herons and goosander, though often they see you first!

Goosanders are not widely known about. The female looks bright white in the sun with a beautiful green head, whereas the male has a very different chestnut-red head, more flattened and “swept back” than the rounded head of his mate.

(You can read a previous post about the birds of the River Severn here)

On this spring afternoon I was also blessed by the surprising sight of bees feeding in the riverside trees….

…and three different species of butterflies: tortoisehell, peacock and comma. The upside-down peacock really does give the impression of a strange owl-like creature with wide eyes!

Mute swans and Canada geese congregate on the banks as well as in the river itself, and both are stunning to watch in flight.

(You can read a previous post about geese on the River Severn and a beautiful poem by Mary Oliver here).

On my return, I nearly failed to photograph some long-tailed tits, but followed the wise naturalists’ advice: stay still and you have a 50% chance they will move towards you. On this occasion they did!

Don’t forget to check the dead tree near the start and finish: cormorants like to perch here picturesquely sometimes, their silhouettes haunting against a Shropshire sky (there weren’t any today!).

Parking for this walk is in the ‘I Love Plants’ car park. Cross the busy road carefully and walk right for a very short while, then over a well-hidden stile on the left, and down across the field, turning right at the river. The walk soon goes through the outskirts of a farm but then you are out into peaceful fields. If you go with others who also have a car, you can make this a linear walk, leaving one car at Atcham, though note that as of March 2022 a bridge over a ditch has been washed away in the winter flood, and you have to detour away from the river and around a hedge in order to reach the road near Atcham. You can also turn left at the river at the start and walk up towards Monkmoor, also along the river, but I find the section from I Love Plants to Atcham is the more peaceful and rewarding as it takes you further out of town rather than toward residential areas. Walking to the ditch and back is a very satisfying walk of 45mins-1 hour, and is dog-friendly.

Celebrating Celandines!

For years, I didn’t know about celandines. And yet at this time of year, in March, they are everywhere in Shropshire, tiny treasures of sunlight-yellow, joyfully announcing the spring.

The poet William Wordsworth wrote about these beautiful gems:

There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine,
That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain;
And, the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, ’tis out again!

Fittingly, he himself was born in the spring, 7th April 1770.

The photograph is of a patch of celandines on the banks of the River Severn – the sunlight bringing out the beautiful blues, greens and yellows.

Keep your eyes open for them!

The Geese of the Severn Speak

Spring brings such beauty amongst the sadness and suffering of the world.

Mary Oliver’s poem ‘Whistling Swans” responds to nature and considers the differet kind of “prayers” that can be said:

“…prayers fly in all directions…
Even when the swans are flying north and making
such a ruckus of noise, God is surely listening
and understanding…
the swans know about as much we do about
the whole business…
So listen to them and watch them, singing as they fly.
Take from it what you can.”
from ‘Whistling Swans’

My encounter was with Canada geese on the Severn, not whistling swans, but I took from it the beauty of the spring morning, the power of the sunlight, the forces of life and goodness in the world.

And maybe the geese know about as much we do about the whole business…

Canada Geese, River Severn, Shropshire, March 2022

The New Life of the Spring

The new life of the spring seems to have the power to inject energy and new life within us all.

This amazing sunrise had to be photographed: the swirling mists over the Severn at Atcham, the amazing light that illuminated the whole world, it seemed, in a burst of colour.

I had been looking for a suitable scene to go with a beautiful poem I had read recently called ‘Bazougey’ (the name of a dog).

Sadly, the dog has passed away, but when spring comes, it brings hope:

“Come with me into the woods where spring is
advancing … See how the violets are opening …
the streams gleaming…What does it make you think of?
His shining curls, his honest eyes, his
beautiful barking.”
from ‘Bazougey’ by Mary Oliver

I hardly need to add anything. But this spring sunrise also brought me some hope.

Wild, Precious and Free

There is a beautiful poem by Mary Oliver about a time when her dog ran off, which ends:

“…who am I to summon his hard and happy body
his four white feet that love to wheel and pedal…
to come back to walk at my side, obedient.”
from ‘The Dog Has Run Off Again’

She recognises the wild, natural freedom that her dog loves – that is more precious than simply getting him to walk to heel!

I was down by the River Severn recently and saw some of my favourite colourful ducks there – goosanders. They are bright and beautiful, especially in the spring sunshine, but extremely shy. And as you can see from the photograph, it wasn’t long before they decided to assert their wild freedom, just like Mary Oliver’s dog!

And I had a similar thought. I do enjoy watching them and photographing them. But who am I to control their “one wild and precious life“?