Light relief

Not much sign here of the early-early spring heralded by The Guardian. Certainly it's proving to be a weird winter, but I wouldn't write it off yet.
Over the last week I've been doing hedge surgery. Any bit of ash that's big enough will be dried and end up in the wood-burning stove, but there's still a mountain of brash to deal with.
And it has been growing as blackthorn and hawthorn has been added to the pile. It is a job that has been done in half hours now and again between showers, when there have been showers.
I can't say I've seen any evidence of buds swelling and there aren't snowdrops showing yet. Too cold and too wet here.
This afternoon a brighter spell tempted me out to the hedge to carry on with the project, only for the rain to come back with a vengeance. But along with it came an incredible rainbow, lifting a day that has otherwise been devoted to completing my tax self-assessment form (which is a barrel of laughs).
Of course, by the time I'd got my phone out of my pocket and turned it on the moment had passed; the rainbow was fading rapidly. I might have been better off looking for its end - a crock of gold would help with the tax bill.

Early warning

We've dodged most of the snow here on the Cych, but it has been a cold, cheerless week. So it's good to know that it looks like spring is heading our way.

Or cuckoos are anyway. I really enjoyed being able to track last year's cuckoo migration via the British Trust for Ornithology's satellite tracking project.

vogelart.info

Transmitters that weigh just 5g were been fitted to five cuckoos and BTO scientists tracked their journeys between here and Africa. It meant that you could follow their journeys at the BTO's website and on the trip south it became a nail-biter as they flew over Europe and then the Sahara through all sorts of hazards.

And it looks like it's happening all over again. All the birds have spent the winter in the Congo, but now two of the five have started moving north and west, which could mean that they're on their way.

Don't hold your breath though as it takes some time. One of the five, Martin, left England at the end of June last year and it took the bird a leisurely three weeks to get to the toe of Italy before a two day sprintover the Sahara to Chad.