Around the equinox

The yellowhammer was a beauty. Clearly seen upon slender stems, it was a step back in time. The first and only occasion that I saw one was when I was about 11. It was simply beautiful. A slim bunting shape with bright yellow plumage dominating its colouring. It looked so alive. Skylarks were about, though, in the heavy grey skies, they were hard to spot. They can and do soar quite high. But hearing them was never in question. Eventually, we saw one fluttering and dipping above us. And then linnets fluttered about. The chiff chaff announced it was here by saying precisely chiff chaff.

These names evoke rural charm and Englishness in me. And childhood. It was exciting to witness all this, along with three jays whose eponymous call distinguishes it from other members of its family, the duller ones. But some birds remain elusive. Other rangers have reported the lesser spotted woodpecker and on the last two or three of our patrols, it has lived up to its name. But Ian is not daunted as he tries to lure an appearance by imitating the bird. First find the wood and then use an appropriate striker.

But to no avail.

The rotunda is now well clad in scaffolding and sprouts the new timber dome support. It is to be clad in a metal, which with weathering, will look like lead, but is not lead. Not doubt the roof will attract the interest of nefarious persons who see or hear of it as fair game to illegally line a pocket or two. We shall see but in the short term access to and around the monument is difficult and, after rain, very muddy.

Although much restoration work is very visible and quite short term, it should not be forgotten that there is much that has gone on and will continue to develop over years. In the house's later life in the latter half of the twentieth century, much wood land was cleared to win the coal that lay beneath. Open cast mining cleared both Broomroyd Wood and Ivas Wood of much of its original stock of trees. Some say it was a socialist backlash against the old Tory owners after Barnsley council bought the place after World War Two. At that time, in the post war 1940s, fuel in the UK was in short supply, so every available resource was tapped. These areas now have been replanted and the original driveways are cut, modelled upon the woods as they looked to the Wentworths, but the sites do not yet look like woodland. Young whips have now established themselves and now sprout branches and, of course as spring moves on, buds will yield new leaf.


The parkland begins to take on its new colours and sounds. As April approaches, spring will surely take off big time.