I look like wheat. Animals and humans don't eat me. What could I be?

I have been driving past this field every day and scratching my head wondering what crop the unusually tall wheat-like grass could be. Last week the crop was harvested and over the weekend it was baled.Today I grabbed the farmer who informed me that it is more profitable than wheat or corn (which he has abandoned altogether) as it requires no special care or chemical treatments and the price is stable. MISCANTHUS grown for bio fuel. Look it up.

Photo copyright SvD.

Broken promises.

On my walk this evening with the hound. According to Blandford Nesting Birds (Windwood Reade & Eric Hosking), these are Hedge Sparrow eggs. The culprit would have been another bird such as a magpie. I have on occasion, at dusk, heard in the woods as magpies would decimate nests. The defending birds would swarm into the tree where the nest was and in unison, would cry as loudly as possible to scare away the magpies, who emboldened by the fear they could hear, would carry on with their dastardly act.

Photo copyright SvD.

The sun has arrived.

In the last twenty-four hours nature has taken off at full throttle. The wheat in the field grew two inches overnight and the trees are beginning to come out in leaf at the very top. A pair of mating partridges have turned up at our offices (they scuttled rapidly away as I tried to take their photo). This was the vista as I drove home for lunch today. Now really, is there anything more beautiful than the British countryside? I am very grateful that I live in this paradise.

Photo copyright SvD.

Spring at last!

Spare a thought for us Brits who have been wearing Winter coats since October 2017 - that's six months! The stereotype of British weather: rain and soggy temperatures to match - has never been truer. On my walk in the woods over the weekend I did however spy this fledgling bluebell, just barely emerging to initiate the Spring. To say I was wild with excitement as I stood in the rain staring at this symbol of change is an understatement. I feel as I have been lost in a fog for six months desperate for just enough sunlight to warm my bones. Could Spring be here at last! Hoorah!!! Now if it would only stop raining....

Photo copyright SvD.