Thursday 5 January 2012

January 2012

Happy New Year
Months of the year .
...Sara Coleridge

January brings the snow, makes the toes and fingers glow.
February brings the rain, thaws the frozen ponds again. 
March brings breezes loud and shrill, stirs the dancing daffodil.
April brings the primrose sweet, scatters daisies at our feet.
May brings flocks of pretty lambs, skipping by their fleecy danes.
June brings tulips, lilies roses, fills the children's hand with posies.
Hot July brings cooling showers of corn, then the harvest home is borne.
Warm September brings the fruit, sportsmen then begin to shoot.
Fresh October brings the pheasant, then to gather nuts is pleasant.
Dull November brings the blast, then the leaves are falling fast.
chill December brings the sleet, blazing fire and Christmas treat.

2nd We visit the nature reserve it is sunny but cold. On the way we see a buzzard and another one flies over when we arrive. The flock of crows is still by the car park. The flock of greylag geese are feeding in the field on the far side of the water, Cormorants, lapwings, teal,various gulls and mallards are on the water. By the 2nd we see 4 snipe feeding and on the feeders greenfinch, great tits and blue tits fight for their rights to feed while below chaffinch, robins and a female pheasant together. They are joined by a squirrel. Two reed bunting's join the throng above.

Gorse
Gorse is a trumpet song, 
It spikes out of the earth, 
A welcome pain,
It will spear your hands,
It will wound your skin,
Bead you with scarlet,
It is "Iam " in all seasons,
It blares its trumpet song,
Tan-ta-ra to the skies,
It is a still fire,
Yellow on the hillside,
Coldly burning.
Gerard Benson
I take pictures of some lichen on the trees.
 Lichen Xanthoria Parientina is one of several similar species . A foliase fungus consisting of numerous scales or leaf like lobes, often forming circular lobes. It is found on rocks, old walls and tree trunks. Spores are formed in darker patches near the centre.