It’s that time of the month again. The moon has taken 30 spins around the earth and this weekend it’s full and called the Snow Moon.

After chatting with the old farmers in the village, the Snow Moon is called so because snow is most likely to fall in February and it also signifies the end of winter where everything is baron and empty, including the pantry, as food stores start to run dry. Which is why it is also called the Hunger Moon or the Bone Moon, where boiling bones to get the last bit of nutrition out of them was a necessity to ward off hunger and starvation.

From a spiritual point of view, the moon means that the cold hard struggle of winter is nearly over. We are awakening, and we are beginning to gather the motivation, energy, resolve, and plan to enter the growing season with positivity and confidence.

A bit of trivia, if the January full moon falls on the very last days of the month, there will be no full moon in February, because the moon cycle is 29.5 days long. To keep the other moon names in sync with the months, this is called the Black Moon. It happens approximately every 19 years and the next one is due in 2037.

We are back at the bit called the Bird Feeder Clearing. This was our first proper attempt at a wildflower glade and took us ages to clear it.

I remember the ecologist from Sustrans (the land owners) visiting and not really having a clue what we were trying to achieve, and that was probably because neither did we. In my head I could visualise what we have, but putting that into words back then felt clumsy and awkward.

But over the years the wildflowers have become established and because it’s in a reasonably deep cutting, it always feels nice and sheltered.

We rebuilt the bird feeder station after the angry mob of squirrels thought it fun to use the pole as a javelin, after a bit too much of the old fighting juice. And we even managed to get our tarp up before the wind blew it down for the umpteenth time and we just gave up!

It really is nice to just sit quietly and watch the birds flitting in and out, and if we are really lucky a rabble of long-tailed tits will appear and delight us with their super-cute faces and incessant chatter.

We have made a decision to not cut back the butterfly clearing. We want to get a full year cycle and see what happens in the summer. Hopefully there will be many butterflies, bees and other pollinators over-wintering under dead leaves and hollowed out stems of last year’s plants. Four butterflies rely on stinging nettles, which to our initial dismay, dominated the butterfly bank last year like a dark green rash, these being Red Admiral, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell and Painted Lady. It would be an incredible treat if our patience is rewarded this year.

This is the last but one of the heavy workdays so I can happily look forward to giving my little biscuit wrists a rest.

No more chopping back and humping bulky stuff up and down the path for six months, followed by days of aches and pains…

Our first blossom has been spotted.

I am trying to remember to always leave a spare coffee in the flask. If you want to pop along and enjoy a coffee with us (usually around 11am) just do it. Honestly, we stand around making light-hearted banter and it’s all pretty chilled.

You might find that you like us and want to join in…

We found a broken bird nesting box and after a quick session in our workshop, it’s back in action.

And lastly, we litter picked to the end and back.

Our rather wet YouTube of where we are at.

Hopefully no more rain!!

Next week is the last week before the bird nesting season starts. We will be at Potford Dam, and then after that we have a lot of work to do re-staining and maintaining the benches, which will probably take up most of March.

Until next time!

Paul