Issue 113 - Spring

Spring is the season when nature bursts back into life in an explosion of sight, sound and colour. What better invitation to get out and explore?

It’s the time of year when everything in nature is changing and promising new life and new hope. So step outside and be rewarded with a crescendo of bird song, a display of flowers bursting into colourful life and the welcome sight of animals not seen since last year.

There’s nothing quite like the excitement of seeing your first bumblebee or butterfly of the year. Warm days entice queen bumblebees from their underground hibernation sites to buzz around in search of flowers to gain energy and suitable places to nest. But it’s the early-emerging butterflies such as brimstone, peacock, orange-tip and speckled wood that usually grab the limelight with their colourful wings as described by Richard English in our East Lothian Biodiversity article. Our gardens too, are starting to brim forth with new life and it’s an ideal time to start planning your gardening activities and prepare your garden for the months ahead. Seeing new lambs gambling in the fields also remind us that our farmers’ are busily preparing their land and Lindsay Brown gives us an insight into the spring farming calendar, whilst Rosemary Everett teases out the reasons for the explosion in popularity of woolly crafting across the county.

We have all kept remarkably busy during the period of lockdown. The Garleton Singers kept on singing, walkers kept on walking, bakers kept on baking and our county’s history continues to be explored. We say goodbye to the Mallard as we know it and Ailsa Fortune looks back over 120 years of the building’s history.

Talking of walking, take a walk in your local area, either as the sun comes up and starts to warm the air or last thing in the evening as the sun begins to go down. Follow our new Muddy Boots feature and enjoy the freedom of walking in the woods. It doesn’t matter where you go it could be down a winding country lane or through one of our inviting high streets, or into some woodland, just spend a few minutes taking in all the sights, sounds and smells around you as nature springs back to life after its winter slow down.

Remember to support our loyal advertisers who are doing their very best to maintain a first class service throughout lockdown. Please check their website for current information regarding latest offers and news.

Enjoy the spring months and the contents of East Lothian Life, which is bursting with a wide array of articles, which captivate our beautiful county.

Front Cover: Castle Garden, oil on linen, by local artist George Birrell (georgiebirrell@aol.com) whose work can be seen at Fidra Fine Art in Gullane. You can read all about George in the current issue.