The Village Green has been really beautiful this season with the crocus excelling themselves. It’s amazing that the winter rain and early sunny days brings out the best of the display. The yellow crocus are always the first to appear, but birds including the village jackdaws can always be seen eating them first, so by the end of the season there are no yellow ones left. I’ve found some old pictures high lighting the historic but diseased sycamore tree, which I’ve displayed here, as well as a nice shot of the relatively new WWI memorial.

Martin Thompson appeared as a Chinese Emperor at the February Luncheon Club, to celebrate the Chinese New Year. It was another successful and well attended event.

I’ve really sad news to report that former Littleton resident Alistair McCreary has passed away. Alistair was the barn owl ringer who looked after the barn owls in our Parish. In the pictures below he can be seen ringing the owlets from the barn owl box at Littleheath. He was a very dedicated supporter of the Broxton Barn Owl Group since its inception, and it’s due to people like Alistair, that barn owls have made a great come back in the area. Whilst checking for barn owls at Littleheath recently, I visited the Playing Fields and noticed the beautiful iron gates with their swan emblems. The newly planted trees all seem to be doing well, and a greater spotted woodpecker was drumming from one of the field boundary trees. The bed of wildflowers planted there last year seem to be very healthy, although I also noticed that one of our ancient oak trees adjacent to the main track, shows signs of disease.

Other birds reported in the village this month include a rare pair of curlew flying over, with bullfinch, siskin, greenfinch, and redpoll seen in gardens. A pair of goldcrests and several goldfinches were in the churchyard, together with a drumming great spotted woodpecker. I was also delighted to hear song thrush, and see several mistle thrush and a jay in Birch Heath. There are still small flocks of redwing and fieldfare on nearby farmland, whilst cormorant and shoveler ducks were at The Pit. The big fish are also displaying at present, so look out for them leaping out of the water from time to time. We are also delighted that our long staying long tailed tits are still visiting our feeders each day, sharing them with our large family of house sparrows.

Most of the Icelandic pink feet seem to have returned to the arctic regions for the breeding season, as fewer and fewer sightings have been seen. There have however been a few skeins of Canadian geese flying over Rowton, and I notice that the greylag family seem to be establishing a nest site at the Pit, with up to five being seen, I guess the successful adults and three youngsters from 2025.