Early Spring? Make Mulberry Gin!

I found a big box of frozen Mulberries in our freezer yesterday. I gave a couple to the children as a chilly treat and then remembered that we had recently consumed the last of our super tasty Mulberry gin during the Winter nights. It was clearly time to create some fresh supplies.

My brother had given me a bottle of gin for Xmas and I was going to save it until the Summer months, but this seemed a project worthy of breaking that pledge. The decorative bottle that we had dispatched over Christmas was undoubtedly cute, but actually quite small, or so it seemed once we got a taste of it.

I filled too jars with the fruit and steeped it in gin; it soon took on a glowing ruby red hue. Normally when making liquors, I add a bit of sugar to help the process but Mulberries are so sweet, it did not seem necessary. I will test it in due course, just to be sure...

Spring seems to be arriving a full month early here in the UK. Plum blossom is blooming all over the place, snowdrops daffodils and crocuses are all flowering at the same time bringing a cheery flourish to the gloomy weather we have been experiencing.

Does this mean the Plums will be ripening a month early? Will they fruit before the Cherries? Perhaps February or March will turn dramatically colder and ruin the early harvest. Who knows? All we can do is wait and observe the changes as they occur. I remember a bad year for Cherries that I put down to high winds during the blossom season deterring pollinators.

Meanwhile, we can simply enjoy the florid display, allow it to lift our hearts and hope that it heralds a good Spring, warm Summer and prolific Autumn.

Spring is Sprung

At last! I have spotted my first Plum blossom of the year. It’s far from abundant at the moment, but in the warmer sheltered places the delicate creamy white buds that cover the branches are now opening to reveal their petals. Soon we will begin to see whole swathes of this ivory bloom along the roadsides and in the hedgerows.

 Remember though, it is not only the flowers of the Plum that herald the onset of Spring, the closely related Blackthorn will also bloom at the same time. The plums will develop fruit that will ripen in the Summer but Blackthorn bushes supply the Sloes and these will not mature until late Autumn .

Now is the time to begin spotting and identifying blossom, wherever you are and record its location. Once you have done this, you should also take a moment to indicate it on the Falling Fruit map.

During the chilly month of February, we took a trip to discover a stone circle near Oxford. The Devil’sCoits are situated in the beautiful village of Stanton Harcourt. The original landscape was shamefully destroyed by gravel extraction and then replaced with landfill but thankfully, the henge and stone circle has now been restored.

While we were in the Cotswolds we spotted lots of beautiful Kites. These large but extremely graceful birds of prey are a delight to watch as their distinct silhouettes circle above the villages, scanning the landscape for food.

The Urbane Forager Book Update…

Swift progress has been made during the Winter on the new Urbane Forager book and we are now in the final stages of the design work. We have a few early versions of potential covers for the book jacket and will post them here soon for your approval. 

Boiling Sands in Spring

Thick drifts of snowdrops send a reminder of colder Winters, but Spring is definitely coming. The signs are everywhere. Colourful crocuses are popping up by the roadside. The first daffodils are trumpeting in warmer weather. I have even seen early Plum blossom in Hedge End where I work.

This weekend though, we were looking for a different type of Spring. We were hunting for the source of the river Hamble. The Hamble’s tidal estuary exits into the Solent and is Hampshire’s premier yachting mecca. Some of the older readers of this blog may remember the TV series Howard's Way, which was filmed there.

The source of the Hamble (a group of natural springs) can be found near the town of Bishops Waltham, in the Moors nature reserve. It is known locally as Sand Boils or the Boiling Sands and it is quite an exciting discovery when you first discover it. 

A strange phenomenon occurs where chalk aquifers meet clay and sand but geology lesson aside – when you look into a shallow stream basin, true to name, the water appears to be boiling! 

Sand on the bottom of the clear stream bubbles and swirls as if some underground heater has been turned on. This is an illusion caused by the water being forced up through the stream bed; the water is actually cold. The film (below) captures this curious effect better than the photo.

We washed our muddy wellies by paddling in the boiling sands and then set out on a short walk through the reserve, to make them even muddier. It is a beautiful area with lots of interesting things to see, but even the established paths were mostly under water. We spotted a venerable old apple tree that had covered the ground at its feet with hundreds of small apples. We also noticed a Nuthatch singing a buzzing song high up in the crown of a tree.

There are various different areas where the water wells up from below and many of the trees stand in quiet pools creating a unique environment. The different spring waters all gradually come together and there is an ancient mill (Chase Mill). The river then runs down a valley to the lovely little town of Botley, where there is another historic mill. Thereafter the river is tidal as the estuary leads down to the Solent via Manor Farm Country Park, Bursledon, Wasash and Hamble.

A few years ago, my brother in law and I paddled a kayak up the Hamble estuary from Bursledon to Curbridge. There we had a tasty Sunday roast in the Horse and Jockey, before heading back down the river again. We saw Kingfishers, Herons, Oyster-catchers, Turnstones and many other birds on our journey.

Signs of Spring and a Seed Swap

The land is currently so saturated that any rain seems to simply sit on the surface, in dank, dark puddles. However, despite the depressing weather, it’s always nice to discover something new, even if it’s only fresh news to you.

For instance, from a young age, I knew that catkins were the flowers of the Hazel tree. Children love collecting and playing with these soft furry danglers and we often compete to see who can find the longest. What I didn’t know, was that the catkin is the male flower and that the Hazel, also has a female flower!

I discovered this fact for myself, when photographing catkins recently; I spotted some tiny pinkish flowers, clinging to the same branch. They looked like miniature, red sea urchins.

Having seen them, I was surprised that I had never noticed this detail before and further investigation proved that these little marvels were indeed the female partner to the male catkins.

I have also spotted other signs of Spring, crocuses, starting to show their colourful faces; in a spirited attempt to dispel the gloomy, grey, wet weather. Snowdrops are also flowering in the fields and hedgerows.

Snowdrops are out now too...

While we are thinking wistfully about Spring, there is a Seed Swap on Sunday the 9^th February in Southampton, opposite the Art House Café. 

It starts at 11.00 am till 3.30 pm; we will be there later on. 

I will also give a quick talk on our adventures with the Urbane Forager project at the Art House afterwards; so, you can have a cup of tea and a tasty cake too...

Do come along and say hi, if you can. 

Spring Flowers

Most people associate Spring with blossom and flowers.  But the seasons do not suddenly change, rather they segue, sliding from one into the other and occasionally back again. However, the wheel turns relentlessly and the more times we see it rotate, the more we become acquainted with the sequence.

Although the months slip and slide and what happens during their passage can vary; within a tolerance, we can predict, roughly, what will appear at a given time.

January brings delicate snowdrops, for the galanthophiles.

February fetches up the shifting colours of crocuses.

March trumpets in yellow daffodils on the roadsides and then Blackthorn (Sloe) and Plum blossom in the hedgerows and trees . Having said this, I have already seen my first Plum blossom of 2013 and recently in Devon we saw a deligtful roadside bank with Snowdrops, Crocuses and Daffodills all in bloom at once.

April fills the woodland floor with Bluebells and Cherry blossom bursts from the trees.

April-May brings the Apple & Pear blossom as Spring eventually draws to a close. May-Day heralds the start of the Summer; with Elderflowers, ready to be turned into champagne and cordial.

Something else for me to point out, is that I'm still eating delicious apples that we picked last September/October and stored in our shed!

Snowballs and Sledges

Needless to say, as soon as I mention that snow never settles in Southampton, it snows all night and all day, lays thickly and the city is brought to a standstill by the relentless blizzard!

All the schools were closed and the gleeful yelps and screams of cheerful snow covered children, ambushing each other up and down the streets, could be heard constantly throughout the morning.

By lunchtime all was all quiet on the Western front, the children were all frozen to their bones with soggy socks and frostbitten fingers. It was still snowing hard outside, as the coats and gloves dried out on the radiators and the frigid digits wrapped around cups of hot chocolate gradually thawed.

After some grub and warming of the extremities, everyone was back at it again. Epic snowball fights evolved all along the road. Boys Vs Girls, Kids Vs Adults, Family Vs Family, it didn’t seem to matter much.

Frozen Ducks Dodging Pack Ice

There were occasional tears, when someone got a facefull of snow or a soggy shot straight down the neck, but they were soon revived with a quick towelling and sent back out into the fray until the battle gradually petered out as the light faded.

The forecast said that it would continue all day and probably not abate over the weekend. Obviously, it was time to break out the thick socks and sledges!

The following day a gang of us headed out to Shawford Down, the main roads were thankfully clear, and the journey was safe. The massive hill had been well used by local children the day before and was looking a bit worse for wear but it was still frozen so the sledges were soon flying along.

Spontaneous snowball fights broke out all over the place and zooming sledges made textbook targets. The sledgers could neither stop nor dodge the chilly-fingered assassins, as they slid toward their snow-spattered destiny.

A Direct Hit (Tee Hee)!

Amid the chaos on the slopes I spotted a tiny shrew darting about in the snow, doing the best he could to dodge the pandemonium that had descended on his home. I scooped him up in my gloves and deposited him somewhere more peaceful, amongst some grass.

Eventually it was time to get back home to thaw out and have some warm tea. Today it remains cold, there is still snow and ice everywhere and my snowball arm is aching from overuse!

Pretty as a Picture





Spring is officially here now, the dafodills are out and I've just started on my second barrel of cider. It’s time to get the cameras out... I always like to hear from people who like the pictures used in the Urbane Forager blog. I enjoy taking photographs and often have my camera when we go out on our little adventures; taking lots of shots helps me to build the story.



Shadow of a Cherry Tee on Blinds at Work



I’m no expert, nor do I have special equipment, just a point & shoot camera. I did make sure that I got a robust one, one that can be dropped, dunked, taken to the beach and used by children.

A Fish With Reflected Clouds

The main reason I take nice photos though, is that I’m always looking. I have heard it said that art is really the Act of Looking.

When you look close, you can notice something tiny. When you stand back you may notice something large or distant. It can be about silhouettes, shadows, objects or contrast and colour.

If you don’t take time to look you will certainly never see and even then, you need to be bothered to stop for a minute, get the camera out and take the picture.

Birds on Branches

I think that walking and cycling helps me too, I tend to notice more when I am outside and moving more slowly.

I recently observed the first signs of cherry blossom peeping through. Soon the white haze of plum and blackthorn will be replaced with the rosy/snowy antennae of the cherry trees – they are native to the UK and will be spotted by woodland and along many roadsides. Record the locations and come back later to check for young fruit.

Shortly after the cherry, apple and pear trees will begin to flower, so this will be the best time (apart from autumn) for a wander through the Mansbridge Community Orchard.



Unseasonably Late Snowdrops