Country: Nature Notes
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.ALREADY, EARLIER than ever, spears of wild garlic are shooting up in the woods on the escarpment. At the moment they are only three or four inches high, but the plants will soon create a dense carpet nearly a foot deep, and in April they will throw out a mass of star-shaped white flowers.
I have often wondered what wild creatures make of this sudden change in their environment.
Badgers, in particular, must find it rather bewildering. One week they are going about their nocturnal business over a bare, grey-brown woodland floor. The next, they are pushing through head-high, dark-green vegetation.
Colour is certainly less important to them than smell, for they operate mostly in the dark, and see largely in black and white. But as their sense of smell is reckoned to be at least 500 times as acute as that of a human being, what on earth do they make of wild garlic, which has an overpowering scent? So strong is the tang that it penetrates even into the eggs of chickens which peck out bulbs, and farmers' wives used to say that a rabbit that had run through garlic could go into the pot without salt or pepper, as it came into the kitchen fully seasoned.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments