I have to admit, the drab and dreary weather (it started to rain whilst I was there) did not lessen the dull feel of the gardens, but, here or there were some hidden gems that made me think that underneath the mud and general brown tinge there was a whole host of life just waiting to get out.

There were quite a few hellebores there, but many did not look their best – not sure if it was the early morning frost or if they just needed some TLC – however, not far away were some bright points of blue – I think they are scilla – there were not enough to cover the ground, but they still grabbed my attention.

Whilst I didn’t see much in the way of edibles, the trees in the orchard were full of big, fat buds, and underneath they were planted with iris or daffodils.  The daffodils were just showing some colour, in a couple of weeks they will be amazing.

One thing that I did notice was the amount of bird life there.  They have put bird feeders in every garden.  I am not sure if they have always done this, but there are never any out in the Summer.  As a result, with every step, there was a flurry of activity as a chaffinch or blackbird or unidentifiable small bird zoomed off into the safety of the hedges.  The lack of visitors at this time of year, and the mist and drizzle lent an air of tranquility to the place.  The cacophony of bird song just added to this feeling.  One bird that I used to hear a lot more around Daventry, before they built even more houses, was the yellowhammer, so I was very surprised that to find it in the middle of the gardens.  I think it was just getting its voice back after the Winter, the song was almost there, but the characteristic wheeze at the end was much shortened.

I always like the sensory garden at Ryton – whatever the time of year they always have something flowering, and this weekend was no exception – look at the little cyclamen that I found.  I have planted corms several times in the garden, but whilst I seem to have one or two that will throw up some leaves, I never seem to get any flowers.  (However, my anenome blanda – all of which seem to be blue – have just started to come into flower.)

My biggest surprise of the day also came in the sensory garden – my first bumblebee of the year, foraging on some heather.  This will be a queen going out to gather food before the first of the brood start to hatch.  It just shows the importance of having some early flowering plants in the garden – mahonia and some early flowering honeysuckles are also good for the early bees.  Sorry for the poor quality picture though – I was taken a bit by surprise and she didn’t stay around for long!

I thought about going to one of the woods in Northamptonshire that are showing off their carpets of snowdrops, but decided against getting in the car and stayed local instead.

The trees are starting to show signs of life; hints of green, fat buds and pussy willow starting to look furry.  Later on as the air warms these furry grey buds will be a riot of yellow as the male flowers open, providing much needed pollen for insects emerging from hibernation.  The bark of this willow (goat willow salix caprea) contains salicin, which is closely related to the active ingredients in aspirin.

At the country park I found that there were a lot of clumps of snowdrops, but they were only just starting to open and come into flower, and, other than the witch hazel planted near the entrance, most of the colour was provided by the ivy growing up many of the trees.  In my endeavours to try and take some pictures of the witch hazel and snowdrops I think I did annoy a pair of great tits that were checking out the nest box nearby.

The verges around Daventry are littered with crocus, but it is not just the non-natives that are flowering.  I found my first celandine of the year, flowering all alone in the grass on the way to the country park, as well as the occasional daisy and one very early dandelion.  I also came across some chickweed (pictured) and speedwell flowering.  I know that these are weeds and are found pretty much everywhere, but I was surprised to see so many things flowering just a couple of weeks into February.  However, I shouldn’t have been surprised.  A quick search of the internet resulted in the discovery that common chickweed has been known to flower under snow and that they can self pollinate – hence they are found everywhere, all year round and are considered a weed.  How can you fail to be impressed by such a hardy little flower?  They are also edible and contain lots of vitamins and minerals as well as supposedly having numerous medicinal properties.  But the most endearing feature I found when researching this plant is that at night the leaves fold over tender buds and new shoots.  (Information pointing out chickweed’s good points was taken from Alternative Nature Online Herbal, Garden Organic wasn’t such a big fan.)

In the verges there are now some buttercups competing with the dandelions, but I was surprised to see some clover flowering already on the industrial estate.  I didn’t think it would be out this early, so that shows how little I know.

I have no new bird sightings for the week although the number of house martins seems to be increasing which is good news because there is some concern about the numbers returning from their wintering grounds.  We have started feeding mealworms to the garden birds in the last week (not a cheap hobby as they can easily eat their own bodyweight in worms every day – or so it seems).  The main takers are about six sparrows and one great tit.  The starlings would be the main takers if we hadn’t put them behind bars (the mealworms that is, not the starlings), so, instead, they have taken to waiting for a sparrow to land with a mealworm and then they attack it.  Some have learned to fly straight off with their booty and avoid the ambush.  Other birds are making regular appearances with chaffinches, goldfinches and greenfinches as well as a robin and blue tit visiting each morning.  At work I have been lucky enough to watch a few pairs of bullfinches from my office window – they have been on the grass eating the seeds of the dandelions.

I finally saw a speckled wood butterfly this morning, well, about 4 or 5.  They were busy patrolling the nettles and garlic mustard on the old railway track as we walked back from town.  There were a couple of orange tips about as well.  Hopefully there will be more if the weather stays warm.  Today was also the day for my first damselfly of the year.  I spotted this large red damselfly in the garden, its wings sparkled in the sunlight as it flew up from near the pond to rest on the bamboo.  I found a larva case on a plant nearby so I think it may have emerged today.

All in all it has been quite a good week for nature spotting in Northamptonshire.

Whilst out photographing architecture on Tuesday I noticed that there were a lot more flowers in the hedgerows and churchyards.  One of the most delicate of these is the Cuckoo Flower or Lady’s Smock, Cardamine Pratensis.  This flower (a member of the brassica family) has delicate pale pink flowers on a spike.  It grows best close to water, but can be found in churchyards and in ditches.  The plant is edible and is widespread through the UK.  It is also one of the flowers that is recorded as part of the Nature’s Calendar phenology study.  Cuckoo flowers are food for the larvae of orange-tip butterflies, of which I saw a number on Tuesday, but they were more interested in the nettle flowers than the cuckoo flowers.

Other flowers that are out, although thought to be a little late this year are the bluebells.  I went to photograph some on Tuesday at Everdon Stubbs and they were just starting to come out.  There were also a few wood anenomes still flowering along with celandines and stitchwort.  Also on the wing were brimstones, but I am still waiting to see my first speckled wood butterfly of the year – I did have a look along the old railway track on Friday, but there were none to be seen.

A trip to Badby Woods on Saturday was a different matter, the bluebells were much more in evidence, starting to give that hazy look when there are so many it is not possible to focus properly.  The bluebells, as expected were attracting a large number of bees and hoverflies.  I was hoping to hear a cuckoo in the woods, but was disappointed, perhaps it was drowned out by the racket made by chiffchaffs and great tits.

However, a very welcome sound heard as we were walking towards the woods was the wheezy song of a yellowhammer.  I used to regularly hear these in the fields around Daventry, but since Lang Farm has been built I have to travel further into the countryside to hear their call.

My first definite sound of Spring is usually the sound of the chiffchaff.  I went to the Country Park last Sunday and heard two of them calling away, and left with a big grin on my face.  I had been expecting to hear them on the old railway track on my way to work this week, but it has been strangely silent (in terms of chiffchaffs).  However, I did hear one on the way back from town yesterday so, all is right with the world.  Looking back 12 months, it wasn’t until the end of March last year that I first heard them, so maybe things are not out of sync after all.  Other birds are also singing away, most noticeably the wrens.  These tiny birds manage to make quite a lot of noise, and, at this time of year are sitting more conspicuously on bare tree branches, advertising their presence.  There were concerns that the cold winter may have dramatically reduced their numbers, but there seemed to be quite a number singing yesterday.

Although I saw my first butterfly over a week ago, I haven’t seen any since.  However, there are quite a number of bumblebees out foraging and the occasional honey bee (quite a few were frequenting the anenome blanda at Ryton last week).  At first glance it would appear that there is not much about for them at the moment, so it is probably just as well the numbers are small.  I haven’t seen any celandines in flower as yet (although I spotted a few on a sunny bank that looked as though they were tempted) and the blackthorn seems late – the first flowers are out in the hedgerows on the sunny sides of the street, but the old railway track is a bit bereft.  However, there are quite a few flowers in the gardens for them – my hellebores are now flowering well, there are lots of daffodils about as well as the aforementioned anenomes, and there are still some flowering heather in a few places.

I also noticed that the germander speedwell (treated as a weed by many gardeners) is now starting to flower.  I quite like the pretty blue flowers which remind me of the Summer sky, which is a blessing when it is actually covered in black cloud!  This is quite a common plant in the wild and in gardens, and provides an early source of nectar for some solitary bees.  It was also apparently used in herbal medicines at one time to treat coughs and catarrh.

Has Spring started to make an appearance where you are?

Now the tune has changed and I am treated to the calls of chaffinches, blue tits and great tits.  It won’t be long before the blackcaps and chiffchaffs are adding to the chorus line.  I know that chiffchaffs have been heard in the area, and I was lucky enough to have a blackcap in the garden on last Saturday (strangely enough the day after I had 5 siskins, traditionally winter visitors, on the seed feeder).  I managed to catch the grumpy little chap on camera, unfortunately, though, not the siskins.

One sound of Spring that I am still missing is the sound of the frogs in the pond.  Alas, I fear there will be no frogspawn this year.

Is there a sound that you particularly associate with the coming of Spring?

That beautiful spring day got me thinking about the weather, as we Brits do, and I’m hopeful that this year will be more ‘normal’.

This winter, the UK news was full of the unnaturally cold harsh weather conditions; to a typical Briton, cold harsh weather means temperatures around 0°C and a few inches of snow, whilst blistering heat is anything above 30°C.

Personally, I found the weather this year pretty reminiscent of a typical British winter. It should be snowy and cold in the winter, and dryer and warmer in the summer, it’s the last couple of years that have been abnormal: warm and very wet throughout the year.

If the normal patterns are reasserting themselves, I’m afraid the next sign to look out for are the April showers. But if we get them then maybe, just maybe that warm sunny summer will be with us in June.

On my way home today, I saw my first blossom trees flowering.  I am not sure what they are, but they are cherry related.  There was a bee on this flower shortly before I took this picture, but, as is often the case, he flew away before I could press the button.

Also of note are the daffodils flowering on various roundabouts, roadsides and gardens, as well as the early flowering tulips that open up to greet the sun in our front garden.  OK, they are a  bit gaudy, but I think you can get away with it at tis time of the year.

Following a week of frost and grey skies the weekend was surprisingly bright (and even quite warm in the sunshine). A walk into town along the old railway track yielded lots of birds (in contrast with a fortnight ago) but no overtly European visitors. (By this I mean that many of the finches, robins etc may be visiting from the continent, but I would never know.) The main surprise was a female blackcap. These are warblers that usually migrate south for the Winter, but in recent years more and more seem to be found in the UK in the Winter (although these may also be continental visitors).

A trip to the Country Park saw about 14 Goosander, as well as the usual gulls and ducks, but not many small birds. The highlight of the afternoon was watching a sparrowhawk being mobbed by a crow and chased off into nearby shrubs.

Sunday, another sunny day, not an opportunity to be missed. We went for a walk to the north of Daventry to an area where we had seen flocks of redwings and fieldfares last year when doing a bird survey. There were lots of small birds squeaking in the shrubs, but not the longed for redwings. We wandered towards the canal (mainly because we hadn’t been there for a while), still nothing. Finally, on the way back towards Daventry we think we saw a lone fieldfare flying overhead, a small triumph even if we had to go halfway to Braunston to find one.

Redwings? The final piece of the winter puzzle fell into place on my way back to work this lunchtime when I spotted one redwing sitting in the sea buckthorn, looking as though it wished it were somewhere else. (I also got really close to two goldcrests that were darting about some trees, almost oblivious to me, making small squeaks that almost sounded like tiny tinkling bells – something to brighten the dreariest of Mondays.)