February Journal - The Art of Noticing
3rd February – If there would be one prevailing theme on the estate this week it would be MUD. Did you know that mud is scientifically proven to alter our brain chemistry in favour of happiness?
4th February – Just after sunrise the hedgerows host a chorus of birdsong, later quietened by heavy rain driving the singers into the cover of the brush. Brush is a much-underrated habitat, providing home for many species of bird, invertebrate, amphibian and small mammal.
5th February - On walking down between Park Covet and Ryefield Wood, I am serenaded by song thrush, with woodpeckers on percussion and robins, goldfinches and blackbirds as backup singers. Blue and great tits dart between trees, too quick to capture on camera.
6th February - Our two swans land effortlessly on the water, and a flight of cormorants soar above. Did you know, people have used cormorants to help them fish for centuries? In China fishermen tethered rings loosely around their necks to prevent them from swallowing larger fish.
7th February - A grey heron sits gracefully alongside the track down to the lake, as though waiting to greet arriving swimmers. The longhorns can be seen grazing from the sauna, a solitary sapling having - thus far - survived their munching.
10th February - A real bite in the air this morning as we round up the cattle for their yearly TB testing. Moody Monday skies and feeling very ‘February’.
11th February - All is quiet on the scrapes aside from the distinctive call of a buzzard, circling high, on the hunt for small mammals upon which to snack. Buzzards have a curious habit of decorating the inside of their nests with fresh green foliage. This seems to serve no purpose other than interior design choice!
14th February - As if from nowhere, a scattering of moorhen line the ephemeral pond on the margins of the estate. A family of roe deer bounce almost gleefully through a far field, their distinctive white bottoms bobbing in the long grass.
15th February - The sauna is my favourite place to be on the estate when it rains. I am warm and dry yet feel utterly connected to the elements. The rainfall on the lake is meditative, as is the steady grazing of the Longhorns in the adjacent field. A solitary Moorhen grazes on the grass in front of the sauna then pops into the lake for a swim, the only creature seemingly undeterred by the downpour.
18th February - The feeling of almost-Spring is in the air today: the sun’s warmth enough that coats are wrapped around waists. The hedgerows are alive with the songs of blue tits, great tits and greenfinches. A group of rooks perch on the edge of Scarr Wood chattering away. Their conversation is broken by the bark of a muntjac, unseen deep within the woods.
19th February - A chilly walk up the footpath and round to the lake. Songbirds chorus unseen within the hedgerows: blue tit, chaffinch and song thrush. A flash of blue from the corner of my eye signals that the kingfisher is out for his lunch. A kingfisher must catch and eat his bodyweight in fish each day to survive - that is roughly 40 small fish.
20th February - Today it's raining so heavily you are soaked within seconds. I sit on the bench outside the sauna and let it wash over me, surprisingly warm for February. The only creatures out in this tempest are cormorant, who land on the lake in brief greeting.
22nd February - From Windmill Hill, the setting sun makes the wetland scrapes glimmer in the distance. The longhorns look small and content from my viewpoint. A hare darts through the gap between hedgerows, pausing to consider me.
25th February - From the decking of Wren, our smallest treehouse, the distinctive ‘whooping’ of teal is unmistakable. Two swans and a goose stand out among the myriad ducks and smaller fowl basking in the sunshine.
27th February - The sun heats the lake causing it to steam. A couple of ducks forage at the lake’s margins. The chorus of the songbirds seems enhanced by the clear, bright day.
28th February - New mole hills have appeared overnight, as though they are emerging to warm themselves in the near-Spring sun. A blackbird forages outside the sauna, hunting the earthworms now rising to the surface.
