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Coton Hill Allotments – Wintry reminder

So the day after our sunny visit to see the newly created plots (albeit interspersed with some fairly nasty hailstorms) I awoke on the 19th February to find a sprinkling of snow on the ground. I rushed out to see the site and take some shots, and the snow was melting all around as I worked. The sun came out and its was a beautiful crystal clear morning.

I exchanged a brief hello with Matt, walking his dog – thinking back, it seems like I have seen him on nearly every visit I’ve made and I’m wondering just how much time he spends out here. I can understand why anyone would want to be out walking in this landscape though.

I saw the first shoots coming through around the edge of the site, almost as a defiant thrust against the snow. A clear sign that Spring is on the way, and it will be a race against time and weeds for the allotmenteers to get their seedlings on the go and then into the ground. But not just yet, if this cold weather is anything to go by.

With the snow on the ground it was also all too evident just how much rabbit activity there is on the site. Tell tale footprints led the way to burrows up to the north east corner of the site, and all around. These mixed with bird footprints and the tyre prints of machines used to prepare the ground.

Once more I marvelled at the sculptural hedgerows intertwined with corrugated and wire fencing, gnarled trees, twisted branches and rabbit burrows. There are some wonderful shapes, textures and details here, and it would be great to preserve the character of these. I know that there are plans to lay the hedges, initially on the north side, and this will look good too, and will be a good way to set and manage the form of the site into the future. But it would be a shame to lose all of the feel of the ancient landscape too.