Monday, February 25, 2008
FOR much of last week there was high pressure over the midlands. In the mornings there was white frost everywhere and often a cold fog. In the afternoons there was strong sun, blue sky and little breeze.
On one of those days I happened to be in a glade in some trees where a large patch of crocuses had been naturalised. As the sun arrived, moving slowly across the glade, the crocus flowers started to open. They snapped open with such force the flower stem vibrated for several seconds afterwards. It was a dramatic example of how the sun empowers the natural world.
On days like this it’s easy to be lulled into the false notion that spring has arrived. But, although there was real warmth in that afternoon sun and air temperatures went into double figures, just before dawn they dipped to minus four or five. The daily average was as cold as it’s been all winter.
I did some weeding in the vegetable garden. It involved dipping my hand down into the soil, following the long tap roots of dandelions. Within half an hour my hands were numb.
But temperature is not everything. Nine weeks after the winter solstice the growth of daylight is now significant and this is having an effect. Each morning I go out to feed the hens and break the ice on their drinking water. Then I open the nest box in search of breakfast. The number of eggs is steadily increasing. Daylight is more important than temperature to the birds.
There are other signs as well. A wild honeysuckle vine grows up the wire at the back of the hen run. It has burst into leaf, getting in a spurt of photosynthesis before it is over-shadowed by the taller trees and bushes in the hedge behind.
So I put on my glasses to inspect the hedge more closely. The elder seems a little late this year. Usually it breaks bud at the same time as the honeysuckle because it’s also trying to steal an advantage over the taller trees that surround it.
The very first tiny leaves have just appeared, but it’s lagging behind — perhaps it’s a little more sensitive than the honeysuckle to the hard night frosts.
The wild primroses, on the other hand, were early this year, the first flowers appearing at the end of January. I also found swelling green leaf buds, just about to burst, on a wild rose.
No sign of any violets in flower — it’s a bit early for them, but there were new, arrow-head shaped leaves poking from the underground corms of lords-and-ladies, and beside them the fresh leaves of wild strawberry plants. New leaves, just out of the bud, are often a different colour to mature summer ones. In some species, including most trees of the poplar family, they open with the brown, purple and gold colours of autumn before turning green. The new wild strawberry leaves I found were a much paler green than mature ones.
Then there was a noisy fight between two male blackbirds. They were stimulated by the longer days the same way as my hens. Their winter tolerance of each other has evaporated. It’s time to get down to establishing and defending a nesting territory.
There is tension in this hedge, tension between longer daylight hours and colder temperatures. But the forecast says it’s going to get milder.
Spring will eventually win the battle.
dick.warner@examiner.ie
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