Books:
i-SPY Creepy Crawlies and i-SPY Trees
2016, Collins
Poem:
A Calendar of Sonnets: March by Helen Hunt Jackson

How is Spring where you are?  Here it is in full bloom and today we finally had a properly warm day.  It’s so nice to be able to hang the washing on the line again!

Here is what we’ve been up to lately.

Books

Currently I’m reading a couple of mysteries, but we’ve also been going about looking for signs of Spring with some i-SPY books.

These are particularly fun because you earn points for each species you spot, but there are many nature guides/books out there.  The RSPB Handbook of British Birds comes out whenever we see a strange bird on the feeder.  If you want a book to read rather than use as a field guide, my husband has been reading The Wood for the Trees: The Long View of Nature from a Small Wood by Richard Fortey.  I’ll get back to you if he has any thoughts on it.  So far this Spring I have spotted, among others: a wren, dunnocks, robins, goldfinches, honey bees, bumblebees, snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, violets, primroses, and various flowering trees including cherry, apple, and blackthorn.

It’s a great time to go for a walk and see what you can spot!  Even small spaces like lawns, hedges and flowerpots will have an amazing world of minibeasts waking up and starting to roam about.  And even if you are still snowed in, if you look closely the trees should be budding and birds returning.

Food

The other day my husband made marmalade, which we have never done before.  It was quite a production, but now we have a row of gleaming jars full of citrusy goodness.  I personally don’t like marmalade, but if you, like my husband and Paddington Bear, are a fan, it’s one of the easier preserves to make.

Marmalade is nice on a toasted tea cake or even hot cross bun on one of those still-chilly mornings.  And if you don’t like it, you could have lemon curd instead.  Citrus fruits are really nice to have in the colder months, when there are fewer fruits around.

Life

Right now our windowsills are just covered in a variety of seedlings, gathering their strength indoors before they face the cold.  There are rows of dahlias, citruses, Black-eyed Susans, and even a little maple grown from seed.

No doubt it will be cold and blustery again tomorrow, but the seedlings are a cheerful sight and fill us with expectation for the Summer.

What have you been reading/eating/doing this March?