Horrid of Henbury and Dot the Dog Spot on Time This Month
Occasional Notes from a Dog Walker
April 2025
A gloriously warm and sunny start to "the cruellest month" (T.S. Eliot – "The Waste Land"). I walked Dot the Dog in shirtsleeves (mine – she has no need of a shirt) every day. Bumble bees of various tail colours were out in force and the bees from our bee nests continued to emerge. The damson was almost in full blossom. A bunny explored the garden until DtD came out of the back door and then it fled under the fence in the hedge – one frustrated dog!
We had feared there would be no frogspawn this year but it arrived overnight. Two separate deposits appeared on consecutive nights.
The warmth continued. The small clump of white bluebells reappeared under the hedge in front of Moss Cottage and the first may-blossom came out in the hedges. Our marsh orchids continued to grow and the bees were about in force, many of them newly hatched from our bee nests. There were midges too, hovering over the few still damp parts of the fields and the odd persistent puddle.
Dot the Dog had the best of it – sunbathing at every opportunity. Unfortunately when things really hot up her black coat absorbs so much heat that she spends all her time in the deepest available shade. Meanwhile a sunbather lolled in the short grass on the slope of the bigger field, even though it faces north – the sun now high enough in the sky to illuminate it even in late afternoon.
The weather became distinctly hot, with rarely a cloud in the sky. Insect life hotted up too. Between us S and I spotted a speckled wood, orange tips and a brimstone in the butterfly catalogue. The bee nests that had been disgorging the new generation suddenly started showing bees going in, presumably to secure next year's brood. Dusk flying moths appeared.
Despite a cooling of the weather, wildflowers continued to appear. On a single morning walk we saw lesser celandine, garlic mustard, tuberous comfrey (I had never heard of it but my app – Picture This – identified it for me – recommended). There were also Ladies Bedstraw, Meadowsweet, Red Campion and Wood Forget-me-nots – all between Anderton's Lane, the cottages and Henbury rise. It pays to keep your eyes open! Fox spraints on the path too.
Good Friday – the first Ladies' Smock flowers appeared, but not yet fully open. The first bird strike on the lounge window too – a juvenile blackbird that survived, a bit non-plussed, and fled into the beech hedge to recover. Dot the Dog's meanderings over the fields while playing ball sometimes reveal something new, and the following morning we came across an unfamiliar plant, tiny. I had never seen it before but my app (Picture This – another plug but no backhanders!) identified it as Sticky Mouse-ear. At the time I only saw the single plant but on our afternoon walk I had my eyes open and found it scattered all over the field.
Easter day – wonderfully warm and sunny, a couple of shirtsleeved walks with DtD. The previous day our daughter had remarked that there was a "country smell" about the village. We found that the dung-heap in the maize field had disappeared and was spread across the ground – and a fair amount of it strewn across the public footpath, much to DtD's interest. Bluebells came into their own under the hedges, including one small group of pink ones near the cottages, as well as the white ones – genetic variants presumably.
Easter Monday brought rain – quite a lot judging by the number and size of puddles on our morning walk. The wet must have brought up worms. I watched the blackbirds quartering the back lawn and feeding greedily.
A balmy few days followed. A large new clump of Ladies' Smock (cuckoo flower) appeared in the field behind Williams Way, and a quartet of lapwings explored what had been the maize field. Later that day the field was ploughed, but the birds usually settle in the smaller field opposite and may do so again.
A few days later a spreader was trundling round the same field disgorging vast amounts of pellets of some (no doubt) inorganic fertiliser. Once again the public footpath got its fair share! We heard a lot of goose activity but could not see the birds – presumably on the last leg of their journey to Redesmere.
In the fields, the small, still boggy, area in the field behind the school was showing a healthy crop of hairy bittercress with its small white flowers. It was a sunny afternoon so I stuck a jaunty sprig in the hatband of my Panama.
Next day the maize field was under the harrow – not long until drilling. It was late on a Sunday afternoon – agriculture never rests but is so taken for granted.
The month ended as it had started – but much hotter. The sunshine at last brought out more butterflies. We saw more brimstones, orange tips, small whites and meadow browns. The bees were working madly on the bee nests. Tadpoles sunbathed in our tiny pool.
Last afternoon of the month; a walk up Hightree Drive going to the fields with Dot the Dog revealed what could only have been the column of smoke from a massive wildfire beyond the forest. A quick web search showed it was around Errwood. I hoped it wouldn't reach the Cat and Fiddle distillery – plenty of fuel there!
As ever
Horrid of Henbury