April In Paxton And The Borders

April 2020 has the world in lockdown, yet nature, unaffected, carries on, reassuringly - the tulips are out, the trees are greening up, the lambs are getting bigger and the sun warmer. April here in The Borders has given us lots of sunshine and clear blue skies, initially accompanied by a chilly northerly wind but in the latter week of the month, these gave way to produce some very warm, sunny days. We even got the sun loungers out (for t-shirt sunbathing at least). 

Rather than write about how we can't get hold of basmati rice or limoncello desserts in my fortnightly, brief visit to the supermarket I think the best thing to for this highly unusual, unique month is just post some uplifting pictures of nature's beauty. Take care, wherever you are.

March In Paxton And The Borders

Well, March 2020 was a month dominated by global pandemic news with little respite - no sport or entertainment or anything like that to lift the spirits. However, one thing that was beautifully unaffected by all this, thankfully, has been nature. 

In the midst of all this spring has arrived with some gloriously sunny days, birdsong, crocuses, daffodils and the first colouring of tulip heads. Blossom is here and the lawn has had its first mowing. Birds are busy nesting and, ironically, there have so many lovely days when everything in the world has seemed perfect. The end of the month has seen some lovely sunny days.

In dark days, the beauty of nature can be such a comfort.

February In Paxton And The Borders

February this year has been notable here for one thing - wind. Three consecutive weekends have seen three extended periods of strong winds (the first two irritatingly given names by the media these days). Thankfully, here, the River Tweed lies low as it passes through Paxton, largely in the grounds of Paxton House so we don’t get any flooding in the village. Other parts of the British Isles have unfortunately seen some serious flooding. Although we had one weekend of heavy rain (the middle one of the three) it has largely been characterised by strong, gusty winds that blow you around when walking, (comparatively). 

Wind is my least favourite of weather phenomena - give me rain any day. Temperatures have been some of the coldest of the winter too, but I don’t mind that.

Anyway, although the Tweed doesn’t flood the village, it certainly flooded its immediate banks down at Paxton House. Our regular river bank walk was rendered impossible for one day as flood water covered the whole area (see comparative pictures). 

The snowdrops are now flowering in abundance along the roadside and in the garden. Both crocuses and daffodils have started to bloom heralding the forthcoming arrival of spring.  

Another notable thing about this month was sightings of Roe Deer in the Paxton House grounds and an otter on the banks of the Whiteadder Water.

 


 


 

 

January In Paxton And The Borders

As January comes to a close, we can look back and reflect on a month that was generally cold, bleak and windy. A week of high winds meant that we had to urgently repair the garden shed roof. The mornings are still dark until around 8 am, but the afternoons stay light until around 4.30 now here. 

For the first few weeks there was not much activity out in the fields or in the garden, other than the birds devouring holders full of seed within two days. 

By the end of the month, however, the snowdrops are beginning to flower and many green tulip and daffodil shoots are now visible. Today (the 22nd) was the first time we have cycled and felt a slight spring-like warmth. The roads were extremely muddy, though, as a result of several fields being freshly ploughed, turning the soil over and spreading slurry, giving the air that unique aroma. 

2018 had some heavy snow in mid-January and 2019 a little at the very end, but 2020 has not seen any as yet.

Cocklawburn Beach

Coldingham Sands

December In Paxton And The Borders

December this year has been very cold, with bitter winds and regular frost. On the days that it has not been quite so cold there has been heavy rain, although not as much as we had in November. Fortunately Christmas Day dawned crisp and cold with blue sky and sunshine and a frost that remained all day.

After seemingly months of Christmas adverts on TV, it is finally the month of Christmas and many houses in the village are tastefully decorated (some far too early on 1st December, though!). Out house becomes a grotto for two weeks either side of Christmas only.

There is not too much happening either in the garden or in the countryside. The leaves are pretty much all off the trees now, which have gone spidery for three or four months although we discovered our first tulip shoot poking through the ground today (the 18th). It is amazing to think that it is still four months or so before it will flower. 

There has not been any snow this year so I make no apology for posting some snowy December pictures from 2017.