Christmas and New Year are past; lengthening days bring the promise of spring; life in the wild continues, the mild weather has encouraged many plants to bud and flower early.

After so much preoccupation with the virus, vaccines and infection statistics, it is good to look outwards.

It is difficult to adjust from the joy and generosity of Christmas to landlords' greed and selfishness turning our housing crisis into a disaster, problems with child care and elderly care, special needs education and so very many other issues to be tackled.

Meanwhile, nature continues all around us unaffected, which offers a calmer outlook.

We live in uncertain times; the virus, Novak Djokovic and parties at No 10 dominate our news for now, but there are many events worldwide that give great cause for concern, but unseen until they become acute enough for the news to report them; meanwhile we blunder on in our own field of vision; let's look outward.

A weed is a happy plant, it grows where it chooses; it flowers, giving joy to all around as God intended.

The illustration is a kerbside weed in Exmouth, beautiful to anyone who bothers to stop and stare. A patch of weeds is a wildlife refuge, fruits and seeds are harvested by birds and insects.

Councils are being pressured to allow verges and roundabouts to become havens to improve the quality of wildlife, saving money and petrol fumes. This creates special spaces for those who can see beauty, despite the disorder.

A woodland is a single entity. Trees, plants, insects, mammals and birds all play an interactive but contributing part. Fallen leaves become the underworld in which insects thrive, dead trees are homes to many creatures, rotting wood is caviar for some insects, the insects themselves tasty morsels for small birds, all have their place in unspoilt woods.

The bramble, or wild blackberry, is another key plant. People like to cut it down. Left alone it is a "pioneer plant" which will extend the boundary of a wood, dying back after 10 years to allow trees and bushes to take over; regular hacking keeps it going forever.

Ivy is regarded as a weed. It is not a parasite but uses trees or buildings for support; nutrition comes from its own roots. Ivy is important - it flowers so late no-one realises it does. Bees can be heard congregating for a last batch of pollen in late November. The fruit appears in January, just when all other berries have been eaten, providing vital food at the end of winter. Birds eat ivy fruit last - it is the least palatable, and so stays on the bush until birds are really hungry!

Every squirrel which a fox has for dinner leaves its acorn store to germinate into oaks; brambles extend the woodland, but die out leaving hawthorn and blackthorn to move in providing cover for the slow growing oak and other trees; holly berries will be eaten by birds, germinate in their digestive systems, planting new holly underneath the bird's favorite perch; tits thrive on greenfly; thrushes gather at any assembly of slugs; woodland is not just a collection of trees.

Only people can ruin it with a different idea of what "looks pretty", armed with chemical sprays to interrupt the natural rhythm of life.

Enjoy the spring and the natural beauty in so many wayside and untended areas.