Farewell February

 This miniscule anenome type bloom is the female flower of the hazel. The tree's distinctive yellow lambs tail catkins are to be seen from late winter.and are one of the early signs that seasonal.change is on the horizon. I had the pleasure of having a go at hazel coppicing this week for the first time. The stools at the local nature reserve have been neglected for many years, but they are being brought back so that they can be cropped again. We collected several branches for stakes and binders which we will use next month to create another 30m of living hedge to extend what is already there on the site. Dormice eat hazel nuts and last year the volunteers ran a survey to see if there were any on the reserve. As many will be aware this species is in sharp decline and all the dormice boxes were empty so it didn't look promising. Tubes with ink at the bottom were placed at various points and the results are now in. Lots of dormice pawprints have been recorded. Let's finish February on a high!

Arilx