Lime Tree Avenue - Snails and Song Thrushes

A couple of weeks ago, I was delighted to spot a Song Thrush in Lime Tree Avenue.  It disappeared behind one of the old trees.

One of the old Lime Trees - showing epicormic growths (suckers).

As I watched the thrush disappear, I noticed the epicormic growths around the bottom of the tree.  Over the last couple of weekends the Brighter Uckfield group have been trimming these growths away, as well as removing litter from the avenue.

I always find this a very satisfying and calming job - and with all the worry about the Corvid-19 virus, I've certainly needed to be calmed down. The word "Mindfulness" is very over used but this type of work, where you methodically remove unwanted growths and have to pay attention while doing it forces me to stay in the moment and really notice the sights and sounds of the avenue.

White-lipped Snails

I always find some tiny wildlife while working on the trees. This year, I found about a dozen White-lipped Snails while working on the three trees that I trimmed. I find that, in the garden, these nibble away dying flowers etc. unlike the bigger Common Garden Snail that makes a nice mess of some of my plants. These little snails are just the sort of thing that a hungry thrush eats.

Common Plume moth.

While clipping my way through the ruby-budded growths, I found a little T-shaped moths, a Common Plume. This moth my look delicate but it can be found during all months of the year.

My last tree - before and after.

After I finished my third and final tree, I collected some of the stems that I had pruned off so I could see the fresh, green leaves open over the next few weeks.