Blue, yellow and the first cuckoo

The first bluebells.  Not enough yet to give an unbroken sheet of blue but they are flowering in my favourite little woodland. This wood is tiny, just a small bank either side of the footpath and only a few hundred yards long.  Its a lovely space at any time of the year but the dappled light in the spring time makes it really magical.

In contrast to the delicate bluebells, these photographs are very bold and bright. There are fields and fields of oilseed rape near here and it is in full flower just at the moment.

It looks stunning but I don't like the rather pungent, cabbage type smell. There is a row of cottages alongside this field, I'm glad I live a bit further away!

These photographs are from my walk on Sunday afternoon. I am noting the date because I heard the first cuckoo of spring - 25th April.

Looking back at last years blog posts, I heard the first cuckoo on almost the same date, the 26th April but  the bluebells were earlier last year and I took photos similar to these on the 16th April. I suppose the bluebells are later this year because of the cold winter but that does not affect the cuckoo arriving here from Africa.

My mother has always kept a diary, recording dates like these along with family events. My diary keeping has always been a bit hit and miss, I managed to keep going for several years when the children were small but apart from those few years I have a lot of diaries filled in only until the end of January! I have now admitted defeat and don't even buy a diary anymore.

Now I realise that through taking lots of photographs and blogging I am creating a record of the seasons and days and I can lose some of the guilt I feel about failing to keep a traditional diary.