Turning to Summer

CHERRY BLOSSOM is scattered on grass verges on the way into Leeds. There is a white froth of Cow Parsley amongst the longer grass, while the turf is peppered with Dandelion seed heads.

The Cow Parsley makes an attractive backing to Bluebell by the towpath. I see my first tiny green looper caterpillar hanging on a thread of silk (invisible to me) from a hawthorn. The loopers, known as inchworms in America, so-called because of their measured way of progressing in a series of loops along a branch, are caterpillars of Geometrid moths. They are vital food for the broods of chicks of tits and warblers.

A Kestrel hovers so perfectly still that it appears to be attached to power lines. A Mallard duck leads her brood of five or six young stripy, dotty, ducklings to the safety of rushes at the far side of the canal.

We are walking through the wood, marvelling at the way several patches of Bluebells have survived the off-roading mountain bikes. We've just said 'At least the motorbikes don't seem to be much of a problem now . . .' when a four-wheeled drive bluebell-squashing vehicle lumbers down the narrow footpath towards us, and having ignored my rebuke, trundles off to destroy the ground flora.

I sometimes wish that I could take pleasure in Nature without feeling responsibility.

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