Signs of spring

So nice to be posting a photograph of snowdrops rather than actual snow. It has almost all melted now and after seeing these flowers this morning I think it is time to go to my allotment next week.  I haven't been there since before Christmas, everything would have been under the snow, but now that the ground has thawed out a bit I should be able to dig up a few leeks. I have some spinach beet as well but I expect that the local deer population will have been feasting on it.

There were lots of catkins in the hedgerows this morning although some have been torn down by some very enthusiastic hedge trimming. I always think the hedges look very sad when they are so badly ripped about by the hedge cutters during the winter but once they come into leaf in the spring and summer they seem to recover.

In summer when everything is in leaf I don't really notice the lichen growing on many of the twigs and branches but today the bright yellow colour stood out amongst the browns and greys of the winter hedge. Close up they have such a strange structure.

It was good to be outside today without the snow, with all the birdsong it is just beginning to feel a bit like spring.  Lets hope the milder weather continues for a while so that I can tidy up the garden and start thinking about what to grow this year at my allotment.