Spring Fever

As the lighter nights start to settle in I prepare myself for the plants coming back to life. I promise myself that this year I’ll actually grow things in my vegetable garden that don’t immediately get eaten by my chickens. I start to look forward to spending more time outside without getting covered in mud. For the last few years our garden has had an issue with drainage and we get an excess of water, particularly at the bottom. I go through clothes like most people go through cups of coffee – because every time i venture outside I end up looking like I took part in one of those mud races.

Then there’s Baby Bird Season! I think every rescue secretly looks forward to it starting and then about a week in is wishing it had finished already. The first few baby birds that you get are little bundles of delight – you see their wide open beaks and you want to do everything you can to make them happy and health. By the 100th baby bird you are ripping your hair out, surviving off coffee and snacks and praying you make it until the end.

Spring also tends to mark the start of the Council e-mails and letters. The complaints about various things here and there that it is their statutory duty to respond to, the arguments with the Council and the large amount of wasted time that I really could have put to better use. Then the Council phone me because they’ve got a baby pigeon on their windowsill or an injured pigeon by their door and we are racing off to help them despite the fact we’ve been fighting with them for months.

Every year I make plans for how Every Feather will work – improve, grow and strengthen. I make plans and then they promptly get swallowed up by a lack of time. This year I really intend to stick by my plans. I want to get things going so that when we do get the land we so desperately need we have a good foundation on which to build. People with mental health issues can benefit greatly from access to nature, safe spaces and even having something to work on. I want Every Feather to help not just wildlife but also people and this is my vision going forward.

I want Spring to mark the end of this horrendous Covid-19 situation (although I think that may be hoping for a bit too much). I want us to get back to some percentage of normality. But on the other hand I want the fosterers who helped me so much last year to remain at my beck and call and not return to work!

My favourite time of year is Easter. I tell everyone it’s Halloween but that’s not really the whole truth. I do love Halloween, but Easter is the time that feels me with that happiness and excitement. It’s not because every Lent I give up chocolate and I can’t wait to eat a whole Easter Egg on Easter Sunday. It’s just this time of year that always fills me with hope. I can’t really explain it, but Easter is the time when more seems possible and it doesn’t seem wrong to expect good things to happen.

So, let’s look forward to Spring no matter what it brings us. Let’s look forward to the green buds and the flowers. To the memories of that bundle of daffodils we always got from church on Mother’s Day. To the long walks in the first real sunshine and the tentative way we put our winter clothes away. Let’s look forward to listening to the birds singing and being able to peg washing outside instead of hanging it on the radiator (that might just be me).

Let’s cheer each other up – tell me your favourite memory of Spring either one here or as a comment on Facebook. We all have different memories but I believe happiness is contagious so let’s share it.