A Year in the Valley

The valley is a collage of green.  The trees lining the fields are all in leaf and blossoms have finished.  The reed canary grass is nearly as tall as the hemlock water dropwort, giving the valley floor the appearance of a bumpy green throw.  By next month the HWD will be in flower and all the foliage will be much the same height.  I am surprised that the housemartins and swifts haven’t returned as yet.  I looked up when they are due and found out that it can be as early as March, but generally April and May.  There are baby moorhens on the pond next door.  They look like little black pompoms.  We haven’t seen the herons and egrets for a few weeks, so hopefully they are nesting further up the valley.  Butterflies, bees, and bugs are very much in evidence.