Signs of spring - hooray!
Whilst out for our daily trip to the Post Office to collect the papers Dido was distracted by a flapping flashing white-ish thing in the hedgerow so we had to go and investigate. Turns out it was part of someone's bin liner - hardly surprising considering how windy it has been and the number of bins lying on their sides. Having discovered it wasn't anything to be worried about Dido was ready to carry on but something else had caught my eye, there in the hedge bottom were the first spikes of Lords-and-Ladies or Cuckoo Pint (Arum maculatum for the latin botanists).
The first celandine leaves were also there brightly glossily green.
Another not so welcome discovery was that of a hedgehog skin, neatly emptied of all hog leaving just skin, prickles and feet (I didn't think a photo of that would be quite so welcome). We don't have many hedgehogs in the village so to find a dead one is not good but it raises the question what was a hedgehog doing out and about in the middle of January when it should be safely tucked away sleeping peacefully?
What is a more welcome sight are the first ribbon flowers of the witch hazel in the garden, gently releasing their sweet perfume in the morning sunshine.
As it is only the middle of January maybe it's not a case for "hooray!" just yet.
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| Lords-and-Ladies and Hammamelis (top right) |
Another not so welcome discovery was that of a hedgehog skin, neatly emptied of all hog leaving just skin, prickles and feet (I didn't think a photo of that would be quite so welcome). We don't have many hedgehogs in the village so to find a dead one is not good but it raises the question what was a hedgehog doing out and about in the middle of January when it should be safely tucked away sleeping peacefully?
What is a more welcome sight are the first ribbon flowers of the witch hazel in the garden, gently releasing their sweet perfume in the morning sunshine.
As it is only the middle of January maybe it's not a case for "hooray!" just yet.