Читать книгу The Times A Year in Nature Notes - Derwent May - Страница 54

BLACKBIRDS ARE NOW singing at dawn and dusk as they start to settle down in their spring territories. Even if the weather remains cold, the lengthening hours of daylight continue to bring birds closer to breeding condition. The blackbirds may abandon their territories temporarily to find food when it is hard to come by, but they will return and will sing for longer periods each day as the spring progresses. Their fluting notes sometimes drift across from a low branch of a tree, sometimes float down from a roof or chimney pot.

Some butterflies have survived the winter in hibernation. Small tortoiseshells and peacock butterflies have been sleeping in the shadows in dark sheds and other cavities, with their bright wings closed and only the dusky undersides showing.

Brimstone butterflies sleep on ivy, where their veined, closed wings can be taken for greenish-yellow leaves: they will soon be on the wing.