Читать книгу The Times A Year in Nature Notes - Derwent May - Страница 74

FLOCKS OF REDWINGS are singing in the treetops, often alongside a field of springing corn. It is a murmuring, babbling chorus, only audible from quite nearby. These thrushes that visit us for the winter sing like this when they are beginning to contemplate their return to Iceland or Scandinavia. Their real spring song is a brief, delicate warble, only heard when they get back home. The singing flocks are very wary, and if one gets near the trees, most of them quickly fly out. For a few moments, the sky is full of the birds, flying with a curious, drunken-looking flight, tipping to left and right as they go.

Colts foot flowers are opening on bare ground beside field paths. They are like small suns, with a dark yellow centre and bright yellow florets round it. Each flower grows on a scaly, pink-and-green stem. The leaves will follow the flowers and become very large, while the flowers will give way to untidy seed-clocks.