The Big Beautiful May Poem

Cow parsley, roses, auroras

This beautiful month of May - all cow parsley, roses and auroras - is drawing to a close and, as is now traditional, it is time for our Big Beautiful May Poem. These end-of-month poems are made up entirely of your comments on our weekly posts - your big important moments and little incidental ones, all left in answer to the question ‘what was particularly ‘this week’ about this week?’

Of course this month’s poem includes several wonderful sightings of the auroras, and I have some thoughts about that. I was lucky enough to see them, but I know that many people weren’t, and felt sad about it. So I wanted to pass on one of the unexpected things I got from it. For the spell afterwards I found myself really looking at quite common things as if they were magical, by which I mean that I recognised that one of the things that made it so special was that it was so rare, here. But what if rainbows were as rare, how amazed would we be to see one? What if you lived in a place where there was no cow parsley, no bluebells, no lime green beech leaves, and then you saw some? And of course then it struck me that that is exactly what is great about this group - there ARE people here who don’t have those things, who would be astonished and delighted by them, just as they have their own things (hummingbirds, bears etc…) that would seem amazing to those of us currently in a temperate northern hemisphere spring/summer. So yeah, just a reminder really, as this group naturally is, to appreciate the immediate and the everyday, as well as the rare and special, because it’s all lush.

Anyway enough of that, let’s crack on. As ever I will set them out in weeks, so that we can all see how the month progressed. Here we go:

The abundance of green everywhere

Learning new bird calls from the Merlin app

A hare on May Day morning

Snowmelt and so waterfall season here on the Keweenaw Peninsula, on the shores of Lake Superior. The sound of rushing, crashing water is such a change from the winter silence

My hummingbird feeder filled and open for business

The blossoms covering the crab apple trees and the fallen petals lining the ground

My annual lilac bath: an entire tub filled with warm water and lilac blossoms to soak in

Forget-me-nots popping up everywhere, reminding me so much of my childhood

Rumbling thunderstorms, brilliant sunshine, pleasant temperatures. On the hunt for morels

An enormous bee visiting the newly emerged flowers on a rowan tree.

Went without a raincoat two days running in Newcastle upon Tyne, and left trays of seedlings out overnight

Blossom, bees, bluebells, blue tits, blackbirds and butterflies...dandelions, a little stickleback in the stream, ferns unfurling, forget me knots

Hawthorn bursting out everywhere and smelling it before seeing it

Frothy cow parsley dancing beside the path as I walk to work.

A mama raccoon visiting our house and our neighbors. Just waiting for her kits to show up

Lush, swaying meadows of cow parsley and bluebells at Kew Gardens, then, getting off the train at Waverley, seeing (well, not-seeing) Arthur's Seat blanketed by sea haar

Woken by great crashes of thunder, lightning and a howling wind

May Day Eve, making fairy doors, decorating the birch with coloured ribbons, too windy for my Beltane fire so lots of candles lit

No coat required!

Tucking pants into socks on walks to foil blood sucking ticks, and swatting at clouds of spindly mosquitos

The wind is moaning down the chimney, the rose over the arch has blown down and the clothes moths are emerging

The meadow pipits are back, the cotton grass is nearly out, and we heard the first cuckoo of the season. And found a dead lizard which was photographed from many angles by the teenagers

Bluebells woods, wisteria walks and cow parsley hedgerows. Making hawthorn brandy and lighting the first firepit of the season

In Greece this week: poppies, olive trees, palms, pines, all manner of herbs, ethereal grasses and the most amazing yellow and pink succulent flowers

The daisies have multiplied and the dandelions are popping up

Red tulips opening right up to show their pretty middle inside - maybe it was the rain pounding them or maybe they put on a show just for us

A perfect posy of flowers from the garden to celebrate Beltane: bluebells, dicentra, dandelions, apple blossom, lilac, red catchfly and forget-me-nots

The beech leaves in the bluebell woods unfurling to form the palest green canopy. I can never resist touching the silvery hairs on the “newborn “ leaves. It signals the last week of bluebell perfection

Opening and closing the greenhouse

Spending a fortune on basket and bedding plants

Anarchic gangs of seagulls waking me up at 7am

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Irises standing tall ready to burst like yellow topped paint brushes

Deep red geraniums doing their thing in terracotta pots on the patio

Planting potatoes and onions in the garden in the dark of the moon

The slap of sandals on pavement

Turning the central heating off

Lying in the sun on the cool grass, watching the crows teasing dogs on Hampstead Heath

The cuckoo! Walking in the Highlands and the call of the cuckoo has accompanied me each day - also a curlew and the first swifts

Proper sun on bare arms, sitting on a deck chair in the garden reading, bees buzzing around flowers, cat on my lap

Spotting avocets, oystercatchers, egrets and sandpipers along the coast path

Sunshine and a picnic on a bench

Butterflies in the field

Cake and cocktails in the garden for my husband’s birthday

Sowing seeds that I should have planted weeks ago when the weather was less inspiring

Bright orange Baltimore Orioles, Scarlet Tanagers and resident Cardinals, black-capped Chickadees, and if you look very closely, tiny bumble-bee sized hummingbirds darting to nectar feeders

A red kite circling overhead as I lay on the grass

The glitter of dew in the scrubby sides of the railway path, as a chaffinch sang its bubbly song at top volume in my ear

Sitting in the garden in the warm sunshine listening to the swifts

The robin and blue tit nests in the garden have both fledged in the warming sun this week. Sad to see them go but the baby Robin popped back for a bath in our pond yesterday. Joy!

The swifts have brought a blanket of blue skies on their wings

This mad woman on the rainy bank holiday out in a waterproof huddled over the beds trying to get my sweet peas in, only to wake to glorious weather the next morning

Abundant sunshine and warmth, bringing music and beautiful people out, dancing and twirling, freed from layers of winter clothing

Our next door neighbour’s beech tree started the week with tightly furled leaf buds but now has burst out it's glorious foliage, gleaming copper in the sunlight

Morning dog walks through a blizzard of sandmartins as they swoop and swirl over the old quarry road

Eating sorrel leaves, pickling garlic buds

Sitting nestled in a blanket to be nurtured by the dusk chorus and the returned swifts

The lime green beech woods, huge chestnuts decorated with myriad candles of blossom, cow parsley in abundance. Such an explosion of green - all those fresh shades in the canopies everywhere

Emerald green spikes of chives growing strong in my pots then snipped into sandwiches and salads

Orange tipped butterflies and busy bees buzzing away around the garden and blackbirds and robins having sing offs in the trees

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Seeing the northern lights from central London. A sight so unlikely and so extraordinary that it seemed like something straight out of a dream…

From London to Ryde Pier for a paddle in the sea and a crab sandwich. In the evening we walked the causeway across the harbour to the dunes and up the secret path of fresh, green wild garlic to the pub on the green where it was steak night. The next morning we woke up to all the pictures, one of which showed the Northern Lights over the pub on the green

Ducklings on my friend's pond

Lying on our backs watching the Aurora light up our dark skies. Bats appeared and disappeared, moths flitted as we lay in the silence

Lilac, and the first rose of the season

No idea of the lights and was stubbornly snuggled fast asleep

Grey skies but the wonderful lush green that gets right up your nose

Picking up disposable BBQs, grilled burgers and drinking aperol spritz in the park, when my friend said the aurora app was pinging and did we want to drive out to the beach when it got dark... and so we did! The most magical early summer evening with dozens of people standing in the dark staring at the sky

Rose buds unfurling into heavy blooms. The time and care taken to prune and feed proving worth it for this beauty on my garage wall

Burying our kitty's ashes along our garden path last weekend, and feeling more tied to this small plot of land than I ever thought possible. My garden feels even more sacred now

Slug patrol - they ate the first beans I planted out completely, and ravaged the courgettes

Damsel flies appearing round the garden pond

The heads of the young starlings poking out of their nest behind our drainpipe, clamouring for more food

Everything in abundance 🌸 Sensory extravaganza 🌹Mother Nature at her most overwhelming 🌿Pause and enjoy ☺️

Foxgloves, roses and so much green, everything reaching skyward

Driving until we escaped the lights of the city to find the northern lights. I can see why ancient people thought they were spirits. It affected me more than the eclipse did. Feeling like I was fluttering, flickering, and undulating inside for several days

Just sweet roses, roses everywhere

Sea pinks popping out all over the cliffs

The lollipops of alliums are making the bees drunk, all inspected with dew soaked hems pulled through the no mow May meadow that is our lawn

Buttercups and daisies every where I look - I feel a daisy chain coming on.

A duckling family in our backyard pond, and three baby groundhogs

All the trees now green their leaves heavy with morning dew, shrieking kids riding their bikes as fast as they can

Eating rhubarb everything everyday

Rich yellow gorse and powdery cow parsley sprinkled across the fields and lanes

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Kayaking with friends: warm sunshine from a blue clear sky, cold beer, a thousand shades of green, birdsong, hours of conversation and contemplation on the winding river through leafy canopies

Making a batch of vanilla rhubarb jam

Memorial Day holiday and our unofficial kick-off to summer: burgers on the grill, asparagus from the garden, and a strawberry rhubarb pie

Homemade rhubarb and apple crumble, and delicious asparagus. The goslings are growing and we are awaiting the ducklings

At the local osprey hide at 6am where Radio Cymru had set up camp to broadcast their morning nature programme. A special moment, talking about ospreys on the bank of the misty river to the sound of the birds (and everyone being eaten alive by midges!)

The hedge sprouting like mad but there’s a nest of dunnocks in there so I won’t trim until they fledge

Thunderous rain in our little corner of France. I blame myself for setting up a rain water harvesting system to feed our potager in the parched summer months. The meadow is thriving. Pyramid and Bee orchids popping up to say Bonjour.

The mute swan cygnets arrived. All eight bobbing about in the sunshine one day, then huddled under mum from the rain the next

Making elderflower cordial from the blooms in the park next door

The local farmers market doubled in size and is overflowing with leafy greens, great stacks of tiny purple spring onions, green garlic, glowing strawberries and jars of honey

Scents of elderflower, honeysuckle and mock orange blossom - out for our wedding anniversary - I wore a crown of it on the day

Washing and styling wigs and getting my daughter’s outfit ready for Comicon London

Catching up with the Giro d’Italia, final stage in Rome on Sunday

A sparrowhawk calling, the bird feeders suddenly deserted and silent

The beginning of the dreaded 'A' levels for our youngest, and the tummy lurch of knowing that she'll be off to university in a heartbeat

Perusing, choosing, arranging and planting my hanging baskets and front porch flower pots. I look forward to this all through the winter

Sprays of purple phlox covering the roadside on my drive to work.

A road trip down to Pembrokeshire in brilliant sunshine for a Welsh chapel family funeral. Internment in a shady spot beneath an ancient yew overlooking the estuary for an uncle who farmed the surrounding fields for over seven decades

Listening to the baby blue tits and watching the parents tireless work to feed them

Nightingales! A slow walk through the abundant hedgerows in the neighbouring nature reserve to hear them singing, such a privilege

A big delicious thunderstorm with dark skies, wind, dumping rain, and lightning, that left as quickly as it began

Nature is moving fast in the far north. The dandelions are carpeting the fields, the apple trees and peonies are within a few days of blooming

Still in the middle of my breast cancer treatment I fully immersed in the Chelsea coverage this year ….Tom Stewart Smith’s National Garden Scheme Garden at Chelsea was my favourite - the hazel trees, the white foxgloves and ALL THAT COWPARSLEY!!

A visit to a quintessential English village garden fete: strawberry teas, a dog show, and the best quality bric-a-brac, cakes and plants

Peonies in bloom, seedlings growing by leaps and bounds, surrounding woodlands a dense shaggy green

A little afternoon nap in the garden sunshine

I hope you enjoyed that, I certainly did. Please let me know in the comments below - it keeps me going!

Looking forward to doing it all again with you next month.