A Loveliness

Did you know that a group of ladybirds is called a loveliness?! I’ve just looked it up and think it’s a very fitting collective noun for them. Every year we have at least 50 ladybirds over-wintering in our house. I live in an old, rented farmhouse with single glazed, original windows. There are a lot of cracks in them and the curtains blow in the wind, even with the windows shut! It makes for a brutal winter if the temperatures really drop. Combine this with the fact that we live rurally and it means that we get a lot of insects in the house, especially ladybirds. I quite like this and although I make an effort to remove them, so they can live happier, longer lives outside, I’ve learnt that such efforts are often futile.

In late autumn, each year, without fail, I notice ladybirds huddling together in the corners of our upstairs windows, signalling the change in season. I’ve no idea how they get in. I keep trying to put them back out, but even with all the windows shut they seem to find a way in. During the winter a ladybird will occasionally wake and have a little wander, but for the most part they stay settled. I find it comforting to see them there each day. It’s a reminder that most of nature is sleeping away the colder months, dormant and waiting for spring.

Recently the ‘loveliness’ has started to wake up. Yesterday I found my upstairs teaming with ladybirds and knew it was my yearly signal to fling open all the windows and welcome in spring. This has become something of a ritual and my daughter absolutely loves the yearly ‘rescue the ladybirds’ mission as we try our best to scoop them up and put them outside. You’d think if they could get in they’d find their way back out, but no, this is not the case.

Something about this annual occurrence, and the noticing of it, roots me in the changing seasons. There are different ways to define the start of spring; meteorologically it starts on 1st march, with the spring equinox falling on Thursday 20th March this year. It can also be defined phenomenologically, when we notice signs of spring around us. For me it starts when the ladybirds wake up and tell me its started, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. When we eventually move on from this house it is one of the things I’ll miss the most.

At Hatch In The Woods, spring means that Amy and I wear one less layer to work, we gather wild garlic for garlic bread on the fire and crafts like happazome start to come out.

What does spring mean to you?

 Laura