Sue Woodcock: Blossoms everywhere, but we need rain

There has been rain all around Starbottom, and Kettlewell got a torrential downpour so fierce that water cascaded down the streets and was gone in about half an hour.

Up on the moor here we had a few drops and I watched the storm as it passed by. Everything seems a little desiccated but the lush greens in the hedgerows tells of some moisture being around. The blossoms everywhere are wonderful.

May is coming out with a shock of white and the cherry trees down in the valley are blossoming with pink wherever I look.

Also out are the bluebells in the woods and beside the roads. In grass woods there are bands of them and they are the native English ones as well. Their carpet of rich blue is a delight.

The swallows and housemartins have young in their nest up in the roof of my barn. They are noisy little critters and all day long they are yelling to their parents for more food. The birds swoop in through the big barn doors with their beaks stuffed with insects, then fly off again for more. Mind you, there are plenty of insects for them to catch. In the last week insects have exploded into the environment. Flies, wasps, bees and down over the mire dragon and damsel flies hovering like exotic jewels over the reeds.

The sphagnum moss is throwing up little club-like fruiting bodies which look like blobs of gold on stalks, shimmering in the breeze. Everywhere is a wonderland just at the moment. When twilight descends out come the bats, flitting round hunting those flies that hover around any damp patch.

There have been other things flying around too. Lots of helicopters and one morning there were three microlight paragliders right over the house. I have done a bit of paragliding in my time but I found their presence quite intrusive. The dogs regarded them with great suspicion before leaping optimistically into the air to try and catch them. Brillo has since started to play with a frisbee, practising I suppose to catch them the next time they come over. She has very high hopes!

A lovely couple have moved to the village and have entered enthusiastically into local life. They asked to come and see where I lived and couldn't believe how much sky there was. They loved the isolation and having had a good look round, cuddled Edwin the kid and cooed over the animals and fell in love with Brillo. I took them down to Grimwith Reservoir, which was swarming with people, but we had a great walk and the dogs behaved impeccably, so much so that I wondered what was wrong with them.

I sometimes get given out of date bread which the sheep, goats, chickens and other birds delight in. I threw them out a whole, large loaf and then watched with great amusement as one of the smaller lambs tackled it.

It knew it was nice inside but how to get into it? It pushed it around and nibbled at the crust. Then it watched surreptitiously what the other sheep were doing. It soon worked out that to stand on the loaf and pull would do the trick and raced off with half a loaf to devour.

With a lot of rain and a fixed car, it is awaiting repair in the garage, my life will soon be back to normal.