I’m sitting in the garden for a change; it’s another
beautiful clear, blue sky day, a warm spring day with not a single cloud. When I first sat down I could hear a dog
barking but that has stopped now, there’s just the road noise which is rarely
far way, even in a lockdown. The Co-op
over the road is honey pot for this drone.
And a bee is buzzing somewhere close; the wind is making the gate knock
in the lock, rustling the dead leaves and whispering through the fresh ones.
Somewhere in a nearby garden someone hits something metallic
with a hammer, once, twice, three times…
The insect buzzing comes and goes; I still haven’t located its
source. What a way to spend a spring
day, I’ll be confined so for a few weeks yet.
From across the road comes the rattling of shop
trollies. At the moment there are no
birds in the sky and there seems to be very little birdsong but when I manage
to retune my ears it’s there in the background.
When the human racket recedes it comes to the fore. Away in the distance an emergency vehicle
uses its siren and what must be a motorcycle goes through the gears as it heads
east and fades to a murmur.
A Dove flies over and another sits on an aerial a few
houses away, two Gulls drift across the blue as well. I walk to the far end of the little garden
and back but don’t see any more birds in flight; the sound of their songs is
becoming easier to pick out now though.
From somewhere comes the call of a startled Blackbird but I can’t see
the culprit, I hear a duck quack and there it is, flying quickly towards the
river valley. Then a Wagtail passes over
with its dipping flight never making it close enough to really see.
There’s been a buzzing since I sat down and I haven’t been
unable to locate the culprit, then the penny dropped. It was coming from the box that houses the
gas meter. I opened the door and let a
confused Bumblebee have some fresh air; I wonder how long it had been locked
down?
The Hammer sound has started up again, rhythmical and
persistent, and from another direction comes the grind of some kind of garden
or DIY power tool. I suppose I am
concentrating on the sounds because the vista is so small and familiar. All I’m really doing is sitting on a garden
bench which threatens to give me arse ache and writing the things that come to
mind although my pen is a long way behind my brain.
So let me concentrate on what I can see for a minute or
two. To my left is a mini greenhouse
that has surprisingly stood up to the winter storms but it doesn’t look like
there’s anything growing inside that came with an invitation. Beside it is a brick shed with a large wasp
like creature paying close inspection.
It doesn’t want to be looking for a home as it will find itself most
unwelcome. I can’t prevent myself from
unlocking the shed to investigate; a wasp nest is the last thing any home
needs. I open the door warily, the
creature has found its way inside but is not part of a gang, it buzzes through
the open door and past me, it sounded pissed off. What lies inside the open door reminds me I
want to go fishing.
Back on the bench, opposite me across the square of paving
slabs sits a big black plastic chest and a small, green upright shed type
thing, both of these house garden tools and stuff. Beside the shed is an old plastic table which
is covered in flowerpots which contain mostly dead things and weeds but they
are splashed with wild sown flowers, mostly small Pansies I think? There’s a
smudge of grey on one of the slabs because yesterday I made a fire… Interrupted by a Goldfinch on the wire but it
didn’t stay long enough for a photo…
Anyway I have a pile of Beech branches from this year’s scalping to
dispose of. In the space I have,
building a bonfire and getting rid of it all in one go isn’t really an option,
as tempting as that might be. Instead I
kept things small; the base was made from two foil dishes that brought quiche
into the house. These were surrounded by
three pieces of broken concrete slab which provided shelter and
containment. I know how to build a fire
because I was a Scout as a youngster and I know how to keep things safe because
I’m not a fucking idiot. Once it was
burning I fed it with small amounts, little and often. To be honest it will probably take about four
more fires of a similar scale before the pile is disposed of, but hell I’ve got
the time at the moment.
Now to my right there is Ivy growing up the fence. It is looking a bit bedraggled as I’ve had a
couple of bouts of hacking at it over the last few months. It was starting to get too big for its boots
and was taking the piss, threatening harm to the fence. I expect we’ll be going toe to toe again
before very much longer. Then Shelley’s
bike leans against the fence, shrouded in a dark waterproof cover.
Further round, the Beech hedge is starting to form the
barrier it was planted for. Most of the
ten trees have leaves now to some extent, the foliage gets thicker every day. A couple of the trees are well set now and
all the leaves are the light, bright, fresh green shades of spring. They will get darker as the weeks go by. I have a good understanding with the hedge, as
I mentioned, I scalp it every year in late march and bar the occasional trim I
pretty much let it do its thing. It has
turned out an odd shape for a beech hedge but it does the trick and for most of
the year it provides the privacy we are entitled to.
The lawn is not fit to be called such. It is a small patch of green grass, beds of
clover and dotted with dandelions. It’s
all pretty green so passes as a lawn in a way but it’s pretty patchy towards
the fence and hedge. Here most plants
died because I could never be arsed with sweeping up the leaves but this year I
made an effort. I also supplemented the
grass with the unwanted tufts that grew easily between the slabs, cleverly
transplanting them to the bare patches where they would be welcome. I’m keeping half the grass mown as normal but
allowing the sparser areas to grow higher and carefully strimming when
necessary.
Just as I’m about to go looking for more bird life two
Pigeons fly over, will I see anything else at the other end of the yard? No, just another Pigeon but there are still
the teasing songs of birds unseen. I pay
close attention to the hedge and see that seven of the ten Beech trees have
leaves now, just the fifth from the left, the eighth and the ninth are still to
open buds. The sixth from the left
opened up first, followed by the fourth, seventh, first, second, tenth and
third. The ninth one (aka the lazy tree)
is always last but I can’t guess which out of five and eight will be next.
Another pigeon flies over, its shadow crosses my page and a
small white butterfly flits in and then up and away. Now more persistent buzzing and up to my left
a bumblebee appears to be courting with the flat roof, maybe the one I released
earlier? I like to think so.
How long have I been out here? It could be five minutes, it could be half an
hour and when I next look at a clock I’ll be none the wiser. And still the sky as brilliant blue, still
the east wind rattles the leaves and gate and the somewhere birds still sing.
Then something small and shrill lands on next door’s aerial,
I’m pretty sure it’s a Goldfinch, yes it’s mate flies down into the garden
while the first still sings and stands sentry.
A few seconds later the second Finch is back, it perches on the feeder
for a second or two but I make it nervous so it hops atop the fence. We both sit and eye each other; I am still
and silent, he/she is fidgety and noisy.
Then it leaves and joins its mate, they fly away in unison but come back
across the garden a minute or two later.
The Goldfinches have started to visit the garden regularly since the
first leaves appeared which was eleven days ago now, for the first couple of
lockdown weeks I never saw them.
The longer I sit here quiet and still the more things
happen. A Blackbird lands on the grass
and skips around a bit, never getting within a couple of metres but my presence
doesn’t spook him. When he leaves I
sneak to the corner and peer round; the Goldfinches are back, using the hedge
as cover while they mount raids on the other feeder. There are Sparrows here two but they are more
interested in the splitting buds on the branches and are much braver than the
Finches. I suppose they should be as we
pretty much cohabit, the last few years have seen then nesting both in the
hedge and under the eaves of the house.
As neighbours go they are pretty good but they are noisy buggers first
thing in the morning.
