Nature unlocks its wonders as spring takes hold
COVID restrictions have meant that many of us are now much more familiar with our neighbourhood green spaces.
Local parks, nature reserves and woodlands, and the birds, insects and animals which share them, and our gardens, with us have become very important to people’s wellbeing.
The combination of changing seasons and the rhythms of nature provide an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colour, movement and sound.
The next three months are perhaps the most exciting of the year for nature watchers.
Longer days and warmer sunshine make late winter and spring a time of re-awakening, renewal and re-birth.
Already snowdrops and crocuses are peppering the ground with colour, hazel catkins are puffing out their clouds of pollen, and birds are on the move.
Robins are ending their uneasy winter truces and marking their breeding territories with their twisty songs.
Grey herons have nearly finished refurbishing their untidy nesting platforms ready to lay this year’s eggs. Being big birds, they only have one brood a year as their chicks need all of the spring and summer months to develop and prepare for the rigours of winter.
Winter visitors such as redwings, fieldfares, waxwings and bramblings, and waterfowl, such as Bewick’s and whooper swans will shortly be flying north.
Some familiar garden birds, which we see all year round, like blackbirds and starlings are also winter visitors.
As the population moves north, and unknown to us, they are replaced by others of the same species.
In a few weeks, of course, summer visitors like warblers, swallows and martins will be arriving from foreign climes. One thing to listen out for is the chiffchaff calling out its own name. Insects too are stirring themselves from their winter torpor. I guarantee that you will shortly see queen bees bumbling around.
You may spot a ginger coloured bee with only one pair of wings – not a bee in fact but a bee fly. Early butterflies will also be seen. Keep an eye on flowers such as willow catkins, coltsfoot and lesser celandine for these and other insect visitors.
A good activity for all ages is to keep a record or diary of your ‘firsts’ – those chiffchaffs, flowers, bees, birds collecting nesting material and so on. Even better is to send your observations to EcoRecord.co.uk or to log them on the iNaturalist or iRecord apps which can be downloaded to your phone.
In detonating their TV bomb, the Duke and Duchess... cast Britain as a deeply racist nation
EVEN the most sceptical observer waiting for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to spill the hot Earl Grey tea over Megxit could not have been prepared for the nuclear bomb the couple detonated this week.
Between them, they not only blew apart any remaining fairytale-like fantasies about the British monarchy, they were destroyed beyond all recognition.
Throughout their two-hour interview, Oprah Winfrey took viewers on a journey, picking up a cadre of royal victims and villains along the way. She masterfully played both priest and prosecutor, taking the Sussexes into her TV confession box to reveal the monarchy’s alleged sins.
It was a systematic takedown of the House of Windsor as the couple dropped bombshell after bombshell.
Meghan and Harry spoke their truths, claiming they were pushed out by racism, and that bigotry remains very much alive in the UK.
The Duchess discussed how their son Archie would not be given a title or security, saying that “conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born” were being had.
Americans, who take far less interest in the couple than Britain would imagine, are divided in their opinion of the interview.
Many challenged why Meghan didn’t know exactly what she was getting into and believed she should have been thankful for the privilege bestowed upon her.
Admittedly, I myself found her claim she hadn’t researched Harry’s background before she jumped into the relationship, strained credibility. I mean, who doesn’t follow a first or second date these days with a Google deep dive of their prospective new partner?
The Sussexes’ complaints about money being taken away because they were no longer senior royals also landed badly, coming from a couple who live in an £11million LA mansion.
It is said that Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language.
But as millions have now watched Oprah’s interview, more than words question the ‘special relationship’.
In detonating their television bomb, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex cast Britain as a deeply racist nation where African-Americans should fear to tread.
Their claim of racism at the heart of the royal family provided many in the US with a crumb of comfort that America is not the only western nation marinated in bigotry.
Ironically, as the Sussexes made their allegations, George Floyd’s alleged killer’s trial got underway – a black man who died at the knee of a white cop which led to riots across the States.
For some here, that didn’t matter. The crossroads America finds itself at over race has now been overshadowed by the treatment of one of their own in the UK.
Culturally, in my eight years here, I have found Britain and America often poles apart in many ways.
Despite our two nations’ closeness, I cover events thinking to myself, ‘this would never happen back home’.
Whether it be politics, policing or princes, the standard Americans usually look towards Britain for, is far higher. Thanks to these allegations, today the bar is so low a Texas rattlesnake would struggle to get under it.
Many in the US watching the Winfrey interview believe in Meghan – whatever the veracity of her claims.
They see Harry as her prince in shining armour cementing their love for him for life. He’s as good as one of them, while the rest of his family should be sent to the Tower of London.
In reality, they are probably neither as callous as their critics say, nor as innocent as they portrayed themselves to Oprah.
Either way, it’s safe to say the royals have been completely thrown under a red London bus, as far as many here are concerned.
JOE Biden’s German Shepherds have been removed from the White House after one of them reportedly bit one of the President’s security men.
The US leader was forced to send the pair back to his family home in Wilmington, Delaware, following the incident.
Three-year-old Major, who was adopted by Biden in November 2018 from an animal shelter, was taken away from the White House for showing aggressive behaviour. Talk about giving a dog a home.