OK, so maybe the wildlife got it wrong. Today, the wind has swung around to the North West, and that short-lived Spring has been replaced by much more wintry weather with freezing winds and quite heavy snow. Definitely a day to stay in and connect with the natural world on the web. Listened to Saturday's edition of Open Country (what a joy the "listen again" scheme is). Heard about a wonderful woman, a retired university lecturer in Lancashire, who has planted over 8,000 trees in the past 14 years. There is something romantic about people who plant trees. I remember, as a child, being fascinated by the story of John Chapman ("Johnny Appleseed") who wandered the U.S. in the early 1800s, planting apple seeds as he went. Popular wisdom is that some of his trees are still bearing fruit 200 years on. I'd love to know if that was true. I came across another picture of an enthusiast wandering the wild lands recently. Stan Beckensall, a school teacher originally from Stoke on Trent, has spent the best part of a lifetime recording the prehistoric rock carvings of Northumberland. In 2000, he passed his archive of notes, drawings, photographs and rubbings (covering over 1500 separate artifacts in all) to the University of Newcastle. The result is a fantastic, web-based archive of Northumberland Rock Art.