Call of the Wild

Thursday 15th June 2000
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Hedge Parsley has taken over the bottom end of the garden by the hedge, but I'm surprised how quickly I can clear it by trimming it back with my long-handled shears, then running over the debris with the lawn mower which collects the trimmings as the same time as it cuts the remnants down to size.

Ground Elder, a plant that would be much more difficult to eradicate if it got established in the garden, is in flower again at the entrance to the woods.

It grows right next to an Elder bush, which isn't related but which has a similar looking leaves. We walk through drifts of the muscat scent of Elderflower, the sweet fragrance of Honeysuckle and the wisp of woodsmoke, from a narrowboat moored alongside the Bingley Arms. Gnats dance, highlighted by the evening sun.

'I wonder if we'll see Curlews this year?' says Barbara as we walk alongside the newly mown field that they visited last year. Within a minute there's a bubbling, followed by a 'curlewing' as one bird calls from amongst the rows of mown grass while a second flies across in front of it.

Richard Bell,
wildlife illustrator
E-mail; 'richard@daelnet.co.uk'