bees

Beltain 2025

~ Ashley ~ 48 Comments

Describing this pagan Cross Quarter festival, it is probably best that I quote from Glennie Kindred’s book** Sacred Earth Celebrations.  She describes this period as “a celebration of the fertility and rampant potency of the life force.”  Goodness, how accurate that is!  Stepping out into our little garden, I wonder at Mother Earth’s amazing energy during these days.

(Please click on the images to view clearly) 👀

These photos show the 7ft hedge that is currently fizzing with new growth. It’s an old hedge, as it was here on our northern boundary 20 years ago when we moved in. Somewhere in there, are a couple of old unknown trees that a previous owner of the house must have chopped down, and that has allowed the ivy to flourish. Also, there is privet, holly, beech and some blackthorn. I love it, because it accommodates so much nature as a food source and a place of safety for so many insects like butterflies and bees! The downside is that it is also about 6ft in depth and as someone who cuts the hedge with a pair of shears…..well, it can be a chore. I gave up garden machinery many years ago but if I’m honest, it helps me to keep mobile. Another joy is that garden birds also use the hedge for safety and for nesting. We are currently being entertained by juvenile sparrows, a robin and several species of young tits.


The sky is filled with birdsong,
The trees and hedges, greening;
Mother Earth is bourgeoning.

Happy May Day.

Ashley

** Find out more at: http://www.glenniekindred.co.uk

Mid Autumn

~ Ashley ~ 43 Comments

Today it is overcast, grey, and now the rain has arrived; a sign of the weather to come: dull and drab!  However, yesterday, around midday, the sun shone and it was warm.  The ivy flowers, which have been closed since they appeared a few weeks ago, suddenly were open.  Open for business!

ivy flowers open

Warm sunshine,
Bright at the top of the hedge --
Movement there!

Butterflies and bees feeding there,
On the blooming ivy flowers --
A true sign of autumn.

Ivy!  Such a maligned plant in a garden, and yet it is so important for our pollinators!  

I can’t resist adding this last photo of 3 Small Tortoiseshell butterflies (Aglais urticae) on one of our dwarf Buddleia (Buzz Velvet Red).

small tortoishell x 3 on buddleia

Not long now until the Autumn Equinox!

Lammas

~ Ashley ~ 54 Comments

white-tail-bumblebee

Small Tortoiseshell - Aglais urticae on Verbena

On every flower,
A butterfly, a bee;
Summer's bounty.

Goodness!  It’s the beginning of August already and isn’t the cycle of life amazing?  All Earth’s creatures are aware of the changes in the season.

Lammas;
Gathering grain for winter,
Seeds for sowing next year.

Lammas, the Saxon name for this time of year, meaning “Loaf-mass”, or as it is called in Irish Gaelic Lughnasadh, is a celebration of the rich harvest that is beginning across these islands.  Whilst the harvest occurs people still make corn dollies or rattles and healing wands but for me I continue to whittle Ogham sticks when I find the right wood. Here are my latest: Hazel and Gorse.

hazel & gorse lammas

Hazel (Corylus avellana) is the ninth tree in the Celtic Tree Ogham.  Its straight coppiced poles have been used in many ways by humans for thousands of years.  It’s been a good companion to humanity and with that in mind I hope to make a walking stick with that extra long piece I was given.

Gorse (Ulex europaeus) is the seventeenth wood in the Ogham.  Not actually a tree, it is found mostly on moorland and rough ground where its flowers can be seen throughout the year.  It is also known as Whin or Furze.

Ashley