So unusually warm are the temperatures so far this year that our summer migrants have arrived early. The chiffchaffs came back a couple of weeks ago and surprisingly, swallows are already whizzing around my head as I type, chattering and clacking away joyfully having arrived back from Africa in the last day or two. There are plenty of midges for them to feed on already so they won’t be hungry at least. We await, ever hopeful each year for the arrival of the increasingly rare cuckoo and nightingale who usually return around the same time as the swallows. I also saw the first bat of the year on Friday night also darting around catching its midgey-filled meal. Spending more time just being, rather than always busy doing, means that I now notice these little changes that happen around me. 

 

This morning I marvelled at a charm of goldfinches feasting in front of the house. About 15 years’ ago, I bought an expensive niger seed feeder to entice beautiful goldfinches into the garden. I didn’t see any for months, but after at least 6 or 7 months, they finally found the feeder, stayed around for a while then left again once they had polished off the seed. It was back when I thought good management of lawns was to keep them clipped, short, neat and flower free. Now, as the lawn is scruffy and abundant with dandelions (and numerous other flowers) I smiled as I saw at least 10 goldfinches this morning happily going from one dandelion seed head to another, clearing the whole flower head of seeds, then moving onto the next. All for free and with less effort on my part too. My ‘new’ eyes look upon the colourful lawn and see such beauty as I see each flower, not as a weed, but as a critical food source. First the flower to the bees, hover flies and butterflies and then once they have gone to seed, to the birds. Of course, nature has always had all of these covered; how could I have ever doubted it? 

 

Sharing the delights of the farm with friends and family is what happiness and contentment is all about for me. Watching our children, now a few of them young adults, enjoy quality time with friends creatively coming up with spontaneous games, chatting and collecting firewood, all away from the usual traps of modern society: what a joy to behold. It made me realise the importance of who we choose to spend time with. This goes for the animals too. This week we also moved our oldest, 17 year-old cow, ’The Udder One’ or Udder for short, to a different group. We currently have 2 fields of cattle. One lot, slightly older, running with a bull, and the other younger ones running with an older female cross-bred cow that we have had for a long time but do not want to breed from anymore. Keeping an older one in the mix of youngsters helps to keep them all calm and relaxed. Udder was with the bull crowd but she told us, as best she could, that she didn’t belong with them: she stayed separate from them all the time and bellowed at us when she saw us. So we decided to move her this week; we walked her all the way from one field to the other, which was a long way for an old cow, but she obediently followed the bucket and walked sensibly the whole way. She is much happier with her new group, it is very obvious to see and just goes to show that it matters to farm animals too: who they spend their time with is important for their experience of the world too.