Archived News

17th March 2011

The temperature rose 6° and the sun shone on Tuesday bringing with it my first Brimstone butterfly sightings of the year. 

As if to mirror the butterflies or not to be out-shone; swathes of Lesser Celandine flowers were outstretched in hedgerows and woodland to form a carpet of yellow.  The glossy yellow flowers open up in daylight (through March and April) and close again at dusk; they take advantage of flowering while the trees above them are still bare.

Being one of the first flowering plants after winter, Lesser Celandine is an important source of nectar and pollen for bumblebees.

Without fuss and with none of us about, Polly gave birth to her first litter during Thursday night/Friday morning and has so far been the perfect mother.

Polly is an Oxford Sandy and Black gilt who was served by one of Percy’s offspring, ‘Spot’. It’s no surprise that Polly’s seven piglets are black, pink and grey as Spot’s mother was black, his father Percy is pink and Percy’s father was a Saddleback which tends to throw grey piglets!  The fact that the piglets look nothing like their sandy coloured mother gives rise to many questions from visiting school groups.