Mylander - Issue 84

From inside the community Nature Notes It has been very peaceful in the garden and out and about, so peaceful we can hear the birdsong and the birdsong brings with it a dimension of tranquillity. One day when working on the allotment off Bergholt Road, it enabled us to hear high above us the sharp short call of a red kite. We saw it, the distinct shape of its tail and the way it used its tail to twitch and turn and rise in a circular motion on the thermals. We also heard, several times, a cuckoo. We had not heard one in the region of Cymbeline Meadows before and on a morning walk through Charter Wood down to the Colne we saw it. From a high perch in the wood it flew south to another perch to continue its calling. The 16th Century poet Edmund Spenser referred to ‘ The merry cuckoo, messenger of Spring ’. Our cuckoo was seeking a female and as we continued to hear him for two to three weeks, we fear he was unlucky. An arduous flight from South Africa to get no partner, just a sore throat! The warmer weather and the scope during lock-down for more leisure time in the garden has also brought bonuses. Time has been taken to sit quietly and observe what is happening amid the flowers and shrubs. Lots of blue. Blue bells and blue butterflies a-plenty. This year has been the best for numbers of common blue and holly blue butterflies in the garden. They don’t stay still for long and thwarted my attempts for a close-up photo. The other butterflies that have been in good numbers are the orange tips and I had more luck with the camera. They are just as pretty on the underwing in my view. This butterfly lives up to its name but the mottled green is also very attractive. We get the impression that many more of us are taking to walking the green paths and spaces over the recent weeks and months and it would be good if that should continue once life returns to some sort of normality. Surely we will all have learnt how pleasant a stroll across green fields or through dappled woodland can be, how natural sounds are better, how the hum of honey bees is more natural than the hum of traffic. The tranquillity of sights and sounds in the natural environment provides a great boost to our feeling of mental well-being and of course fresh air and exercise are good for our physical health too. 22