It has been a mixed month indeed. Snow to begin with, with bright days and dull ones thrown in. There has been a bit of the wet stuff, making the ground at least wintry and thus seasonal.Towards the end of the month the birds began to sing, particularly on the sunnier days. My ranger patrols have been few this month due to family business and I only made outings on about two occasions but buds are becoming prominent in the hedges with the trees starting their edgy greening of the finer branches. Lambs too are arriving but in the days of cold wind, the ewes are taking to the shelter of trees below Archer's Gate. All that is needed to complete the spring sense they help to create is some warmer sunshine.
The work of the conservation volunteers is now very visible with the thinning and clearance of Menagerie Wood and the walling of the ha-ha. Work is being now extended to Lady Lucy's Pond.
This small pond lies between the Serpentine Lakes and the southern end of Menagerie Wood. It is full of reed mace and edged with rose bay willow herb with the water not much in evidence. A wren seemed quite at home in the middle of it. Water flows through it, as a small drainage stream enters from the Serpentine Lakes. After topping up Lady Lucy's Pond, water can drain out, via a culvert, into the ponds in Menagerie Wood.
