May

Wednesday 18th May 2005: The fields of growing wheat we see in the countryside during May are a testament to modern farming practices that do not allow a single plant to grow in their midst. In the process, agro-chemicals have killed off many of our wild flowers that once brought a colour and beauty to the England landscape. Here and there, on isolated roadside verges, outside the farm gate and at the field's edge where they have escaped the poisonous herbicide sprays, clumps of our native flora can be seen struggling to survive against these intensive agricultural practices and the isolated primroses and cowslips, poppies and daisies, act as a reminder of the way it was. The intense colour of the green corn has a beauty that should not be dismissed, often stretching to the far horizon such as here in the fields between Bourne and Dyke village, but they have a conformity about them that reeks of productivity and profit and they also serve as a reminder that the land may not be able to withstand this assault on its abundance indefinitely.

Sunday 1st May 2005: Crops of oil seed can be seen in abundance around Bourne at this time of the year, huge swathes of yellow blossom stretching to the horizon and beyond, the pungent but not unpleasant smell wafting in through the car windows as you drive by. Some believe that the sight of oil seed is garish and totally out of place in a traditional English landscape and although it may be unfamiliar, it has in fact been with us for a very long time, notably during the 17th century when the oil it produced was used by Dutch engineers who came here to drain the fens to lubricate their pumps. In recent years, the acreage has increased to meet the demand for an edible oil as a home-grown alternative to groundnuts and soya. We found this crop in a field on the outskirts of Thurlby, two miles south of Bourne, but it has now become popular with farmers because the revenue from a good harvest when the seed is sold to the crushing mills for conversion into vegetable oil can exceed that of wheat and barley.

Friday 27th May 2004: The signposts of yesteryear are fast disappearing and most have already gone from urban areas although those in the countryside cling on as a reminder of a quieter and less hurried age. Until recent years, they were replaced with modern steel columns as a matter of routine until some enlightened local authorities realised that part of our heritage was being consigned to the dustbin each time a traditional finger post was taken down and here in South Lincolnshire there is a concerted effort to preserve those items of street furniture that have some history. This sign can be found nestling amid a landscaped splendour in the centre of Braceborough village, five miles south of Bourne, and dates from the early years of the 20th century, bearing the imprint of Kesteven County Council which administered the highways in this part of South Lincolnshire from Victorian times until 1974 when its affairs were taken over by the present authority, Lincolnshire County Council.

Wednesday 19th May 2004: The countryside has turned a lush green as springtime advances and many of the fields are splashed with yellow as more farmers grow oil seed in preference to cereals. The blossom is colourful and the smell pungent as you drive by, a hazard for asthma and hay fever sufferers, and so the crop is not popular with everyone. I found this field in full bloom alongside the East Glen River where it crosses the main road on the outskirts of Braceborough village, five miles south of Bourne, and the view in all directions was so breathtaking that I stayed there for some time, leaning on the rail of the river bridge while enjoying it to the full.

Monday 19th May 2003: So many of our wild flowers have disappeared through the use of agro-chemicals and intensive farming practices that it is a sheer delight to see them in large numbers. Buttercups (Rananculus acris) are one of the most familiar of our summer flowers and they abound in pastures everywhere, along roadside verges and at the field's edge where they have escaped the deadly herbicide sprays. These have become an annual feature of a marshy area near to St Peter's Pool in the Wellhead Gardens at Bourne where the ground is so damp that it has escaped the mowing machines that keep the park in trim and this is the result. The rich yellow of these cup-shaped flowers is associated in folklore with the yellow butter from the cattle that graze the fields where they grow and who has not, in their youth, held one under the chin of their companion to discover whether this yellow is reflected on the skin, an experiment that is reputed to be a sure sign that they like butter if it does.

Tuesday 13th May 2003: The May blossom is at its very best this year, the most prolific showing that we have seen since moving to Bourne twenty years ago. Wherever you walk, the air is redolent with its bitter sweet smell and the hawthorn trees hang heavy with their white blossom. Among the best places to see it is alongside the footpath which follows the route of the old railway line which ran between Bourne and Sleaford but closed in 1964, and as the corridor of land has been left practically untouched, it has become a small haven for wildlife. The May blossom cascades from the trees on both sides of the path and once having walked its length, we retraced our steps and went back again because it was such a glorious sight. My mother would never allow  the frothy white sprays to enter the house because May blossom was thought to be unlucky. The reason for this superstition has been lost but it no doubt has some pre-Christian significance or perhaps our ancestors may have associated the coming of the plague with this time of the year, but whatever the cause, such ill-omen has no place in our reckoning when we see these beautiful blooms today.

Tuesday 6th May 2003: St Peter's Pool is full of wildfowl with their young at this time of the year and among the most numerous is the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), a common dabbling duck that flocks here and along the Bourne Eau in large numbers. Although not exactly domesticated, they have become quite tame and visitors arrive here most days with morsels of bread and cake to feed them, especially if they have half a dozen young in tow which is usually the case at this time of the year. These ducks breed here regularly and some have been sitting on clutches on 11 or 12 olive grey eggs in safe nesting places nearby, under a hedge or in a tree hole, but not all hatch out and some fall prey to predators. Nevertheless, large families are quite normal and today we were lucky because we found one female was sitting proudly on the bank and basking in a late afternoon shaft of sunlight with her brood of ten lined up in front of her, as though putting them on public display, and although they are usually very protective birds, she made no move when I crept closer to take this shot.

Monday 5th May 2003: We went out for a drive into the countryside late this afternoon, looking for a suitable field of oilseed to photograph. Many people dislike the yellow blossom that has become such a common sight at this time of the year but we find it an attractive addition to the springtime colours while the scent is very pleasant, although it can be overwhelming if you go too close. We eventually found this crop to the north east of Bourne, on the road between Keisby and Kirkby Underwood, and it was a suitable field to photograph because it sloped upwards towards the horizon. The sky was also full of scudding cumulus clouds but the sun was playing hide and seek and we waited for some time before it appeared and enabled me to capture a suitable shot. 

Tuesday 28th May 2002: The Bourne Eau where it runs behind Eastgate has been home to a pair of mute swans for the past ten years and I go there frequently to check on their progress and to photograph them when they are co-operative, a difficult assignment because although these birds are reasonably friendly, they are not always tempted by bread and other morsels that I have used to entice them within range of my camera lens. This year they have proved to be particularly difficult because they are coping with seven cygnets, although nine were hatched out from this year's clutch of eggs but two fell victim to predators. The swans are therefore wary when anyone gets too near and pointing a camera at them from a close distance during their most intimate moments falls into this category. This is the best shot of a dozen that I managed to get when I found the family out for an early evening forage among the algae in the river where it joins the Car Dyke near Bedehouse Bank, which is one of their favourite spots, but if you are thinking of seeking them out for yourself, take care, because an angry pen, the more dangerous of the two, can break your arm with the flap of its wing.

Friday 24th May 2002: The prettiest road in Bourne, especially in springtime, is undoubtedly Mill Drove, one of the town's more recent residential developments which was planted with a variety of trees that can be seen at their best at this time of the year. Laburnum was a popular choice, as it was for the adjoining Queen's Road, and here at the junction of the two streets, their flowers provide a splash of colour against the red brick and tile of the large house built by local farmer and landowner Mr Len Pick in 1951. The common laburnum (Laburnum anagyroides) grows wild in the woods and thickets in the mountainous regions of southern and central Europe but here in England it has been widely planted as an ornamental tree and was much favoured by local authorities and so it can frequently be found in parks and gardens and at the roadside in urban areas. The bright yellow flowers in long, loose, drooping chains, are a delight in springtime but the laburnum does have one drawback in that all parts of the tree, especially the seeds, are poisonous and so it is being planted less in public places today than it was in years past. 

Wednesday 22nd May 2002: The weather conditions this year have been ideal for cow parsley which thrives on sunshine and showers in damp places such as roadside verges and river banks. It is easily recognised by its pungent smell and ubiquitous habits because it forms the walls of white that flank many a country lane and footpath in springtime. Several other species are rather similar but cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris) is the earliest and most common, a tall and slightly downy plant with a hollow stem that was a favoured raw material for making peashooters in my boyhood, a practice frowned upon by my mother because the plant was also reckoned to have diuretic properties. It flowers from April to June and there are many places around the town where it can be found, particularly here on the banks of the Bourne Eau behind Eastgate, downstream from its junction with the Car Dyke, with the old riverside warehouses and the Mays Sluice ahead and then a clear view out into the fen where you will find even more cow parsley in abundance.

Monday 20th May 2002: The Wellhead Gardens in Bourne are best known for their ornamental cherry trees that flower so colourfully in April and provide a magical walk along the main path overhung with white and pink blossom. But another avenue in the park, to the north east and leading into West Street, is equally attractive because it is lined with horse chestnut trees that bloom with a mass of red candles that appear during May. This tree is a hybrid between our own native horse chestnut and the American red buckeye and is widely planted throughout Britain as an ornamental species. It reaches a height in excess of 60 feet and is a favourite for planting in public gardens and alongside roads and one of the best places to see it on a public highway is along the entrance road into Stamford from Bourne on the A6171. But the scarlet red blossom does not last long and if you wish to see it in the Wellhead Gardens then you must keep a weather eye on the candles and once they start to burst into life in mid-May, it is well worth the wait.

Sunday 19th May 2002: Trees in the Wellhead Gardens that were brought down by the gales in January last year have still not been cleared away. Many of the weeping willows are so large that they are taking the park staff many weeks to cut up and cart away. These trees have been a feature of the gardens for well over half a century and their sheer size is an indication of the strength of the winds when they were blown down. This one, on the banks of the Bourne Eau, almost at its source, has a trunk that is well over two feet across while some of the lower branches have an equally massive girth. The tree is being sawn up in sections, a piece at a time, and given away to visitors as garden features or even firewood, but the task is not expected to be completed for several months yet. 

See The Wellhead Gardens.

Thursday 16th May 2002: Today was the hottest day of the year so far and by mid-afternoon the temperature had soared to 80 degrees F. Our early evening walk took as along the route of the old railway line between Bourne and Dyke village, a wildlife corridor between arable fields that is fast becoming overgrown in places but is still used by those anxious to keep the footpath open. Leaving the track halfway down, we found ourselves in a small, narrow meadow with patches of buttercups and an abundance of cow parsley while the hedgerows were weighed down with May blossom and the strong scent pleasantly overwhelming. This strip has been left uncultivated for many years and so walkers can enjoy it but the use of agro-chemicals in past years has taken its toll and bitten deep into the soil for had this been the virgin grassland of past centuries, then it would have been ablaze with the colour of many other wild flowers today.

Wednesday 15th May 2002:This section of South Street where the river runs alongside the road is one of the prettiest parts of Bourne and a favourite place for mothers with children who come here to feed the ducks. The War Memorial Gardens are just over the stone bridge and beyond that the Wellhead Gardens, two of the town's great public assets because they provide a haven of peace and tranquilly just a short step from the town centre. The Bourne Eau has been devoid of fish, however, since a major pollution incident in 1960 when toxic effluent from a riverside industry killed off the entire population over a single weekend. But there is optimism for the future because shoals of minnows have been spotted along this section of the river at dusk, a sure sign that many species are breeding here and that the Bourne Eau may soon support a wide variety of coarse fish as it did in years past. 

Tuesday 14th May 2002: The site for a proposed memorial to the motor racing pioneer Raymond Mays is this strip of grassland alongside Baldock's Mill, built beside the Bourne Eau in South Street in 1800 and one of the prettiest parts of this South Lincolnshire town. Plans for a six-foot high structure of brick and stone and adorned with racing motifs are currently under consideration by South Kesteven District Council but there have already been reservations about its size and location. The problem with the chosen site is that it lies next to a Grade II listed building surrounded by trees that are subject to preservation orders because of their visual importance and the council has a particular duty with regard to its deliberations in considering the impact that the structure will have on that building as well as on the street scene. An added difficulty is that the location is also within the town's Conservation Area designated in July 1977 and the Department for Environment (DEFRA) may have to be consulted before a final decision is made.

Friday 10th May 2002: The Red Hall is one of the oldest and certainly the most important secular building in Bourne and was constructed circa 1605 to designs by John Thorpe, the Elizabethan architect responsible for many similar houses in Lincolnshire and the East Midlands. The most popular view is of the front that can be seen off South Street but if you walk round to the left, there is another commanding aspect on the southern side, best viewed on a bright afternoon when the sun lights up the distinctive red brickwork which gives the building its name. Both of these pictures can be seen in the history of the Red Hall but at this time of the year you can get another entrancing view from the site of the old cress beds alongside the Wellhead Gardens where the hall is presented as a remote and mysterious building, the setting perhaps for a Gothic novel or period film drama. I took this picture a few days ago but by the end of the month, the hedge will have grown so thick that this view will be obscured until the late autumn. 

Friday 3rd May 2002: We walk frequently in the Wellhead Gardens in the late afternoon and rarely leave without taking a look at St Peter's Pool and the progress of the pair of black swans that were introduced here in 1999, a gift to the town from the Wildfowl Trust. They are handsome birds, indigenous to Australia and Tasmania, and have bred many cygnets in their new habitat but once they are old enough the parents do not allow them to stay and they force them to fly off to other parts. This anti-social behaviour is not however confined to other wildfowl and they appear to live in harmony with the many moorhen and particularly mallard that live on the pool and, as we found this evening, often enjoy each other's company but then this particular breed of duck is extremely gregarious and very hard to dislike.

Thursday 17th May 2001: It is at this time of the year that large tracts of the English countryside turn a brilliant yellow as the oil seed crops burst into blossom. Oil seed (Brassica napus) has been grown in these parts since the 17th century when Dutch engineers who came to this country to help drain the fens used the oil it produced to lubricate their massive pumps and so the image of this product remained industrial until the latter half of the last century. Since then, the acreage has increased dramatically to produce an edible oil that is a home-grown alternative to groundnuts, sunflowers and soya, and a much favoured and healthier alternative for culinary purposes than rendered animal fats such as dripping and lard. I found this crop on the outskirts of Kirkby Underwood, five miles north of Bourne, although there are few roads hereabouts that you can drive along without coming across a field glowing with the glorious yellow of these plants while their pleasant and strong smelling scent wafts in through the car windows as you pass.

Monday 18th May 1998: This is one of our favourite footpaths, starting just off the A15 north of Bourne, and running alongside a field that was growing oilseed when I took this picture, while on the other side is a tributary of the Car Dyke, the ancient Roman waterway. We walk this delightful path about once a week in the spring and the circular route from our house in Stephenson Way and back is just over three miles, taking in a most attractive part of the rural landscape. England is truly a green and pleasant land and here you will find a typical fenland scene with a 360 degree view of the horizon, a changing sky and a stillness to intense that it makes you catch your breath. It is hard to believe that such peace and tranquillity can exist just a short distance from the town centre.

Thursday 21st May 1998: This is another section of the same footpath just off the A15 north of Bourne. It runs across the fields with a growing crop of green corn on the right and the path edged with cow parsley, one of the commonest plants to be found in the wild. It has white flowers with a pungent smell and grows thick and tall, often up to six feet in height, and can be found in the hedgerows and field edges where the flowers glow almost luminously on a bright, moonlit night. Cow parsley is regarded as a weed because it is so common but were it a rare plant, then it would adorn every back garden.

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