In early February, the cherry plum throws out the first blossom in random bursts of dazzling white along the dark lanes.

At Bough Beech in late February, a pair of Egyptian geese have a brood of young goslings that are paraded along the edge of the concrete dam. Garden birds are foraging intently at the bird feeders by the old barn; there are perhaps ten times as many blue tits as there are great tits and just a single pair of chaffinches. The day is a rare bright one, the prolonged bouts of wet weather that have prevailed for the past few weeks chill the little birds and limit their ability to find food.