Alan Allport
During lockdown, in the ‘Trap Grounds’ ten-acre nature reserve visitor footfall has doubled and doubled again. In contrast, all through cool overcast rainy May, our wildlife did a go-slow. Butterflies and most other insects went back to sleep, while the May blossom, Guelder Rose, Cowslips and Red Campion, the Marsh Marigolds and Yellow Iris hung on all month in flower, unvisited by their usual pollinators.
Then, as early June arrived and the temperatures abruptly soared, the next wave of wildflowers, the Birds-foot Trefoil and Yellow Rattle, the Poppies and Ox-eye Daisies – grown thigh-high after all that rain – burst into exuberant bloom weeks behind their usual schedule. The second half of June has again brought battering rain, and those lanky wildflowers have flopped and sprawled. But life, miraculous nurturing life, continues on its wild and beautiful way. Praise be!
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Forty-Three Newsletter • Number 507 • July 2021
Oxford Friends Meeting
43 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LW
Alan – have you read any Robert Macfarlane? I think you would love him. I have just finished Underland, which I thought was brilliant.