April 17 In an old diary that I read this
week, it was recorded that the first cuckoo was heard on April 17th. That happened to be the very date which has been most conspicuous in my annals (by the accident of a family anniversary) for a number of first appearances or sounds, including the first swallow and the first song of several warblers from the nightingale downwards. As the weather does not seem to have delayed the immigrants, this typical date may again justify its eminence. Some of our home birds so hurried to build when the weather allowed that they, made less speed. The first thrush's nest in my garden was blown clean 'but of a conifer bush, eggs and all ; and the ground below a near-by rookery was strewn with nests. Were ever " gale warnings " quite so regular a feature of official prognostica- tions? Most spring flowers are as late as spring nests, including the Lent lily and the daisy. The flower least delayed, in my experience of the season, is the oxlip, which joined company with a few garden primulas and anticipated even the primroses.
Previous page
