The Burning Bush

Willow catkins - photograph by Jo Sinclair

The cycle begins again. I retrace my steps and see the same things, though this spring there's been a tender headstart. The toads in the Roman fishpond grip each other more than a month earlier than  noted here last year. The pond was dry until the recent floods. Now it brims with water and creatures.

Nature at the site nearby earmarked for a possible Greenbelt development can thrive for the time being. The scrub and 'non-significant', 'low-value' mature trees as described by the developer's representatives at a local consultation have not yet been bulldozed or burnt. I saw a willow ablaze with sunshine, loud buzzing, bright yellow catkins and big bumblebees when I visited. A fox peered at me from a stack of concrete and metal and beat a crunchy retreat. This twisted pile topped with torn-out seats is a football stadium without a home. A muntjac crept off in its hunch-backed way. I've seen roe deer bucks leaping here. Another lady at the consultation tried to put a good word in for those.

There's a superb photo-essay of scrapyard nature in the current edition of BBC Wildlife Magazine. Pal Hermansen has spent two years recording how nature reclaimed an abandoned 60-year old car yard in Sweden. He finds that the density of nests and vegetation is higher than in the surrounding forest. Conservationists want to remove the cars, motor enthusiasts would like the site to be a cultural monument, and Hermansen would like to see it declared a natural and cultural reserve. Among his photos are a tufty squirrel munching a nut on a mossy bonnet,  a bird feeding a chick perched on a green steering wheel and a clutch of blue eggs cupped in crusted orange metal.