Country mouse: a sunny spring day in the garden
Mark looks forward to summer but finds it's tough to beat a sunny spring day in the garden


Scritch scratch-there's something gently satisfying about using a spring rake on a lawn, which is just as well, as the soggy winter has turned most of mine into a mossy swade. As I raked, I noticed voles running hither and thither.
There are about 90 million of these little mammals in Britain and their numbers outnumber every other type of animal by a long way. They are subject to population explosions and I suspect we'll see one this year thanks to the mild winter. They're cousins of the lemming and their numbers peak on a four-year cycle. Strangely for the field vole, our most populous animal has been almost totally ignored in literature, but it's the key prey for a large number of our better-known predators.
As these chubby faced little fellows dashed about, a lone swallow appeared, back from Africa- it was the first I've seen this year. In the woods, the bluebells have burst into flower next to the white wood anemones. This year, the oak has decisively beaten the ash into leaf, which, according to the old legend, promises a fine summer. There's so much to look forward to, but little can beat a sunny spring day spent in the garden.
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Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.
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