Friday 16 January 2015

January: A Vintage Description of Nature In The English Countryside

Although country folk say that the worst of winter is yet to come, the gorse on the moor has lighted a few golden lamps to greet the New Year.  And in the woodlands the hazel has hung grey tassels that tremble in the wind; about the keeper's cottage the jasmine displays points of yellow.  On the weathered wall, moss has woven a mosaic of green and brown.  In the churchyard ancient yews will soon open their curious clustered blossoms. 
From a laneside elm, the mistlethrush utters his wild lay and, on days when an icy wind carries snow in his lap, the 'storm-cock' will sing his rattle song in defiance of the weather.  But the robin is more cautious, for when storms are near he sings in the open.  Thus, country lore gives to him the credit of being a weather prophet.
Down the lane a hedge-sparrow sings 'wee, sissy-weeso, wee, sissy-weeso.'  Another name for this bird is dunnock.  From the coppice a great- tit rings his repeated notes that remind one of a file on the teeth of a saw.  From the hedgerow a wren sounds his alarm, for this little brown bird delights to play the sentinel.

Over the wheat field a skylark plays his pipes of Pan.  On an average the lark sings throughout the year, except in August.  As a slant of sunshine touches the side of the wood, a green woodpecker becomes a jester with a laugh, and pigeons coo in contentment.   In the air hovers a kestrel, and the small birds vanish into the lattice of the hedges, and starlings deploy over the more distant fields.  From the oster-beds comes the wail of peewits.  Greenfinches, linnets, still keep together in flocks.  But the snow-buntings will begin to depart, as they are winter visitors.
The following birds may be heard in song this month:  Mistlethrush, thrush, blackbird, wren, robin, hedgesparrow, woodlark, chaffinch, and nuthatch.

When the winter sunshine gives a genial glow of warmth at the lane corner, one may glimpse the gnats in a crazy dance.  They revel in the amber light, and their rapidly vibrating wings reflect the transient gleam of rainbow colours.

The rabbits feed at the edge of the wood, and indulge in a gambol, but the hares seek the shelter of the hedgerow.  Dormice, hedgehogs, and squirrels are still sleeping.  The hedgehog is not worried by lack of food and sleeps on till the sun is sufficiently warm to lure him forth; but on a fine day the dormice and squirrels may awaken to visit their stores, and an occasional pipistrelle may be seen on the wing.   On the upland ridge, baby lambs bleat, and are answered by deep-voiced ewes.  As the twilight deepens, the shepherd lights his pipe, and watches the sunset behind a heavy bank of clouds, which he knows forecasts rain or snow.  Later a pale moon hangs above the hill, and the rugged form of the shepherd is silhouetted on the skyline.      (unknown author)
'Downs in Winter' by Eric Ravilious
 
*Happy New Year and hello.  How remiss of me to go so long without posting here...I will try to do better...

9 comments:

  1. Hello Lori, Just discovered your beautiful blog and am amazed I have not come across it before since I read some of the same blogs you have links to here. Anyway.. have just spent a lovely hour or so here looking at your previous entries and am amazed how many of the same sorts and genres of books we like . So looking forward to anything you might feel like posting in the future. Also explored your music blog which I think I may have looked at and lost from my bookmarks but have now bookmarked both your blogs again. Do please keep posting!

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    1. Hello, thank you very much for the compliment! I'm so glad you like both blogs, and I regret neglecting them so much the past months, I got rather absorbed with other things that have taken time and focus off the blogs. I do have some ideas for new ones, so please look in again soon. Thank you for the encouragement!

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  2. Hello again. Sorry I have taken so long to get back to see your comment~ had a bit of a mishap and have not been doing a lot online . Yes, please DO continue to post if you feel at all inspired~ It is a difficult thing to juggle all that goes on in daily life with also maintaining and /or finding both time and incentive to write for a blog . Of course 'real life ' sand living it should always taken precedence so I can understand how easy it would be to let a blog go. Your blog encompasses some wonderful elements that I have yet to find in many other blogs, so if you ever do feel inspired to post will look forward to reading anything you care to write about or photos /illustrations ect you feel like sharing. All the best.

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    1. Hello Valkrye, I hope you are all right now. I appreciate your lovely comments tremendously, it's very encouraging (and I just posted a new one last night). I have had time for blogs, but have been busy over on other sites that took my focus away! I even made a long list of topics for blogs last year, so there should be plenty to come. Best wishes, Lori

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  3. Hello again Lori, Lovely to hear from you. I am slowly recovering ~ I had a bad fall while walking my dog , trying to keep him from heading across the road where an aggressive little dog was trying to entice him to tangle, I assume~ I hit a patch of very slippery mud (like ice really!) and at the same time being tugged in the opposite direction by my dog, I lost my balance and twisted to come down like a wall of bricks on the tarmac! It was very frightening when I realized I could not get up without extreme pain~ fortunately the lady with the other dog and a companion helped me to eventually get to my knees(also knocked the breath of of myself) and brought their car round to take me home (all complete strangers) I think it will be awhile before I am back to normal, but am better than I was! Thank you for your good wishes. I must go look at your other blogs to see what you have posted as well. Looking forward to any upcoming posts. Hope too all is well with you . Thanks for replying to my comment.

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    1. Greetings Valkrye, forgive my slow response. How terrible to fall, that can cause so much pain and trouble and disturbs your alignment in the body, and makes you feel so helpless. It was fortunate that there was someone there to help you. I see it's been a month since you wrote this, so hopefully you have mended by now! In fact I had an accident the other night and am in misery myself, so can completely sympathise with you even more. Very best wishes, Lori

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  4. Oh Lori! I am really sorry to hear that you also have had an accident in which you were injured. I do hope you are able to get the rest and time you need to heal. I am still battling my back injury~ I never went to a Dr. instead hoping that time would heal it~ it has improved from the initial fall but it is slow ~ I am older than you so that is a strike against me ~ everything takes longer and everything tends to be less straightforward than when you are younger. (sigh) I was (and hope to be again!) active and certainly felt far from old, but how much things can change in an instant! I hope that your injury will be as short-lived as possible. Sending you lots of positive energy your way ~Hope you feel better soon. Thank you for responding to my message as well.

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    1. You are very kind, thank you so much. One has to have much patience to recuperate from an injury. I'm glad you are mending, just a shame how much something like that can set you back. Yes, in an instant is how these things happen, it's shocking. I send positive thoughts back too, and hope your injury soon vanishes without a trace! x

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  5. Thank you Lori. Hope you are on the mend as well so you can enjoy the Spring days (whenever the sun shows it's face.)

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