Saturday 27 April 2013

Seasonal schizophrenia

A Saturday mid-afternoon visit to Hanson Environmental Study Centre brought neither the hoped-for Swifts or an ode of any sort (dragons or damsels, as opposed to saucy limericks or rhyming couplets). A bitter wind continued to blow from the north west, the last vestiges of Winter spitefully hanging on, as if to taunt the land for its hope of a warm and pleasant Spring.

The lake was rather sparsely populated by a meagre assortment of wildfowl, though a growing throng of warblers were singing from the reedbeds, scrub and trees surrounding the water. The sky was either dark with heavy showers, or brightly lit with an assortment of sun-drenched fluffy clouds, like non-identical twins jostling for control of the heavens in a meteorological overture of alternating themes.


The Cowslips were having no truck with this indecision and duality, choosing instead to throw their all into a fecund explosion of colour.


We returned home to discover a pair of Mallard sat on the lawn, in a leisurely repose, following their feeding frenzy amongst the aquatic plants of the Tense Towers pond. The air was laden  with rhyming couplets, most of which featured the word 'duck'.

5 comments:

biobabbler said...

Wow, you are on a ROLL today (verbally speaking). Lovely stuff! And I love that sky shot. It's 82 (F) here today and WAYY too early to be that warm, so I'm a little afraid of summer (the dreaded season if your ancestors are from cold & dark). However, I can at least plant my tomatoes, now, given that the predicted lows are in the 50s for the next week. Your spring sounds lovely!

Imperfect and Tense said...

Thanks, bb. In sheltered spots it was certainly much warmer, but with few trees in full leaf yet, finding such places was difficult. I whinge when it's too cold and really whinge when it's too hot. Climate change is going to push up my rant quota!

Ah, home-grown food. Good for the mind and good for the body :o)

Martin said...

By contrast the Loire valley in France had 20cm of snow yesterday (and they don't know what to make of it either), while the south was humid and 15-17oC, followed by damp and drizzly. Certainly none of it typical for April. Fingers crossed for a good year of Odes and dittys.

Imperfect and Tense said...

Y'know, daft though it may sound, I'm not sure I could cope with predictable weather either. It's good to have a random card in the pack.

FoHESC said...

He's looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions he recalls
He really can't find Odes at all