the end of winter

Its March already, the month we can officially think of as the beginning of spring and so it follows these are the last days of winter. This year I have enjoyed February and am almost sorry it is over. Usually I am tired of the bleak cold weather but this year has been the mildest for years and I've lingered with my camera on my winter walks.

Soon my pictures will contain more colour, spring blossom and bulbs, there will be new growth, green shoots and fresh leaves but just now I have photographs from the end of winter, softer colours and gentle pale light. The skeletons of seedheads now seedless, the tangled mass of last years grass, pale yellow catkins and ivy and bramble leaves turned red in the winter. There is even a quiet beauty in the reflections of the trees in a grey puddle.

Winter gently fading into spring.