A walk round the lake

We have had a week of sunny days, clear blue skies and temperatures higher than expected for March. The trees are slowly coming into leaf

and frothy white blackthorn blossom

is buzzing with bees.

On the ground yellow coltsfoot push up through the grass, the leaves follow later when the flowers have faded.

Here an ash tree and an oak side by side.

"If the ash comes into leaf before the oak then summer will be a soak". 

This part of the country needs rain, water levels are low and hosepipe bans come into force next week to conserve water. In this picture the ash tree does seem to be further forward than the oak so perhaps we are in for a wet summer. 

Until then we can enjoy this glorious mild spring.

Bath

A few photographs from our trip to Bath last week.

We wandered along the Royal Crescent looking down at the individual courtyard gardens.

Clipped box was popular.

The street-side of the houses are smart and look very uniform but I liked this view of the back of one of the rows of houses. I like the mixture of window styles and sizes, some with balconies, some without - they look much more lived in somehow rather than the rather formal front view.

We also played tourist looking at the Abbey from the park

which had some very colourful planting.

This is a view of Pultney Bridge

seen more clearly in this photograph. There are very narrow shops each side of the road across the bridge,

my favourite was the florist with this pretty display squashed alongside the pavement.

It was a cold grey day but the flowers of Bath added brightness and colour.

Spring in the garden

I've always thought that the first day of spring was the 21st March but the spring equinox doesn't always occur on this day and this year the equinox was yesterday, March 20th.

Anyway, these photographs are a record of my garden today which is either the first or the second day of spring!

Green shoots

After a day spent indoors at work I often walk along the lanes near home, usually with my camera, not so much for exercise but more to enjoy the peace and quiet after a busy day.

It still looks wintery here, with the hedges still bare

although looking closely there are green shoots and new growth appearing.

Honeysuckle,

 bramble

hawthorn

elder,

cow parsley

and lastly, amongst the leaves and grass, a bank of violets.

Spring is almost here.

A winter afternoon

A late winter afternoon, the sun low in the sky casting long shadows across the ploughed field. The trees still bare but the buds are swelling.

Soft winter colours, the countryside quietly waits for spring.

St David's Day daffodil

There were a few early daffodils in flower in the garden for St David's Day yesterday. The weather has been mild this week and my little plot is moving towards spring.

My blue primroses are always pecked by blackbirds and so end up looking a bit ragged. I have no idea why this happens and why always the blue ones?

The celandines are a "weed: that I welcome. They are a bit invasive and spread everywhere but they are very pretty at the start of the year and the leaves die back quite quickly after flowering leaving plenty of time and space for other plants.

The chionodoxa are just starting to flower. This one is "giant pink" which as you would expect is a bit bigger and more robust than some of its smaller blue flowered cousins.

Finally more daffodils growing amongst some overwintered swiss chard. There isn't really enough room in the garden to separate flowers from vegetable but they all seem to get along well together.