April 2002  - Edition No.77

Spring is here and don't you know,
This is the time when daisies grow.

This childhood ditty always makes me smile, but daisies are not the only things growing - the spring flowers are all in bloom, the trees and bushes bursting into bud and the grass is in desperate need of a haircut! But, no sooner do you think you can go out and cut it, than it rains again!

Sadly, the cuckoo, the harbinger of spring, is increasingly hard to hear and its population has declined sharply over the last thirty years. Unique, in concealing its eggs in the nests of other, smaller birds, it may be suffering from a lack of 'desirable residences', or a lack of caterpillars on which to feed the chicks. An initiative has been set up by the Woodland Trust to monitor cuckoo numbers, as well as other spring events - the appearance of bumble bees, swifts, swallows. They ask that anyone willing to help should contact them or register as a recorder at www.phenology.org.uk. Let's hope that it won't be that we may soon be hearing the last cuckoo call.

My call for articles has, as always, been heard. Thank you all. Thank you, too, everyone who has sent items - particularly snippets from elsewhere - and if yours has not appeared yet, be assured it has not been forgotten or discarded. The pile is quite large but precedence is usually given to 'original' pieces, but keep them coming!

June, with its Golden Jubilee celebrations, will be the next issue and articles will be needed please by the middle of May, Wednesday, 15th May, at the very latest. Thank you.

I should like to take this opportunity to thank Phil and Lynne for everything they have done for our village and particularly for their support of the Newsletter. I wish them a happy 'retirement', although I'm sure they'll be off on a new challenge before too long, and welcome the Ozelton Family to The Globe. With all good wishes for Easter.

Ed