The ducks are back!
We already know from Sammy Davis Jr that the rhythm of life is a powerful beat and as we enter our third spring at Dale Farm, without doubt the most astonishing thing about living in the country is the absolutely strict timetable observed by the natural world. OK the weather might put things forward or back a couple of days but generally, round about 1 March the following things happen:
- The birds start singing loudly
- The Woodpeckers go ballistic
- The ducks return on a hunt for highly unsuitable nesting places
- You spend a lot of time stuck behind tractors on slow country roads
- The whites of the snowdrops give way to the yellows of crocuses and daffs
- You get a tingle in your fingers and a tingle in your feet…
…because basically it’s all about the sex. The most timid creatures that scurry away into the dark corners of the farm throughout winter at the slightest noise take to …ahem… ‘courting’ in broad daylight and in full view in the middle of our car park. The drive to continue the species becomes stronger than that of personal survival (also everyone else is at it so your predators are equally distracted.)
Most of us agree that we would lay down our lives to ensure our children survive and it seems that hares, deer and badgers are no different.
My own lovely Mum died in January. Losing your Mum is a very sad thing but as much a part of the rhythm of life as spring bulbs forcing their way through the frozen earth and kamikaze ducklings launching themselves into living…which is comforting in a way.
