Church of The Holy Trinity, Chantry

Jottings from a country churchyard

WELL, HERE WE ARE in September, traditionally towards the end of summer. I hope everyone has found enjoyment during our odd one-day-at-a-time summer. It seems as though we must just accept now that our summers consist of the odd brief heatwave between torrential and rains and often constantly cold north east winds. In spite of (or because of?) the variable weather flowers have flowered and tree and shrubs have blossomed so that abundance of autumn seeds and fruits should be around for wildlife (and humans) to gather. And, oddly, most things have peaked earlier than usual – perhaps owing to the mild winter giving them an early start? But flora and fauna seem increasingly out of sync. Because of cold, wet conditions insect life was scarce when insect eating birds such as swifts and swallows needed flying food and blue tits etc needed aphids and caterpillars so that many early broods failed. Butterflies, too, I have found scarce until the past couple of weeks when they now seem to be in abundance, just too late for the National Butterfly Count. But, as with other mistimings, my buddleias are almost over. Just a few tattered and frayed fronds of fading flowers (whoops! How’s that for alliteration?) are clustered with greedily feeding butterflies. Bumble bees seem to be fewer too. I usually have to rescue several huge furry ones daily in m y bug-sucker (wonderful device from Lakeland, gentle, harmless and saves a lot of climbing). But tis summer I have had perhaps two per week. Wasps, I am not keen on – too quick in speed and temper – but they do as valuable job of pollinating as bees, so I tolerate them. At the moment, I have a huge – and growing daily! - nest in the rafters of my store-room next to the garden shed. Also we have on in the churchyard grass which meant we had to re-locate a social gathering planned there to celebrate the completion of our new heating, lighting, carpeting and pew cushioning in the church. Anyone reading this who has not yet seen our newly transformed Chantry church, do please come and look. The church is open every day and there is a service every Sunday to which you will be warmly welcomed and plied with coffee and cake afterwards. Only on the first Sunday of each month the services rotate around the four churches so see the magazine (that sounds like a spinning congregation, but you know what I mean!). I was speaking the other day to someone after church who was dreading a session with her dentist, so I encouraged her by passing on my antidote for undergoing any unpleasant procedure. I just imagine I am lying in a field of buttercups and wild flowers, listening to the larks singing high above, bumble bees floating over and grasshoppers creaking all around. Afterwards I thought when did I last hear a skylark? And grasshoppers? I’ve almost forgotten what they sound like. Am I reliving a childhood experience? The last time I laid in long grass I heard a wood pigeon, a distant blackbird and a bored sheep and I ended up with a stiff back and several mosquito bites. Has anyone heard grasshoppers recently? If so, do tell me where and I’ll go and have a listen and recall my long absence. Still, mustn’t grumble. At the moment, I am sitting in the stable yard on one of our “proper” summer days, drowsed by the heady lemony perfume of several huge magnolia grandiflora flowers, newly opened. The sky is cornflower blue, flecked with just a few slowly drifting chalk scribbles and, the sun being really hot, I am relishing the shade of my jungly garden. I am used to its jungly state and so are all my friends but town living cousins visiting recently suggested helpfully that the next time they came, the man of the party would willingly cut back the greenery on my path, assuming it was too hard for me to do. They seemed puzzled when I explained that I preferred to be hidden away and anyway, being only 4’8” tall, I mostly walked under anything overhanging. And any visiting friends who got flicked by leaves or twigs either brushed them aside or snapped them off in passing if they found them a nuisance. I did have a surprise is my orchard a few weeks ago. When the campion and queen Anne’s lace were waist high prior to its summer strimming I stopped to retrieve a useful forked branch from a pile of brushwood and out leapt what I thought was a large rabbit. A friend with me recognised it as baby muntjac deer, probably left by its mother to hide my quiet orchard, possibly having given birth to it there. I avoided the orchard for a few weeks but when I did go down there the little deer was still there but almost fully grown. It dashed out, circled the stable yard and bounded back to the orchard. I left it undisturbed for a few more weeks but haven’t seen it again so presumably it has joined its mother in the surrounding woodland. Quite an exciting little encounter but when I discovered several trees and bushes had been “pruned” at deer level I was quite glad it was only a brief encounter. Well, I’ve wandered away from the churchyard again, so I’d better stop. Anyway, my dear cavalier, Ebbie, short for Ebony as she’s almost black) says its feeding time so that is definitely it. Enjoy the rest of the summer. See you in October.

Hazell Tovey