Wednesday 22 January 2014

Harbingers of Spring.

Wherever we live in the Northern Hemisphere it is Winter and certainly this side of the Mediterranean it is more likely to be on the chilly side than the warm side.   Although compared with last Winter we are all enjoying a spell of warmish weather, it is also a very wet Winter and even the most optimistic of us knows that there is still February to get through before signs of Spring arrive.

Or is this so?   I went for my after-lunch walk today with Tess and my camera and I was surprised how many signs of the coming of Spring that I saw.

The ground in the paddock is very wet and the grass is growing.   When I went up into the bathroom the paddock was full of rooks.  I knew that if I tried going outside to photograph them they would all fly away, so I took the snap through the window - and caught only a fraction of them - all searching in the damp grass of the field for the larva of the crane fly - their favourite Winter food.

The pyracantha is still heavy with little red beads of berries - the favourite food of the many blackbirds around at present - and the birds have no need to eat them  .   Come a cold spell and I am sure they will disappear in the blink of an eye, but meanwhile they do look cheerful don't they?

The primroses are coming out in the garden, the winter aconites are out and there is even a rose coming into flower in the tub on the step (Gloire de Dijon I think).   Violas, winter jasmine and snowdrops complete the picture.

How can anyone feel anything but cheerful when the sun is shining and there is all this to see in just one garden?









15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your lovely pictures. It has not rained here since Dec. 20th, and everything is brown. I have hopes for rain or even snow in February but it's not looking good.
Sandy O'

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your lovely pictures. It has not rained here since Dec. 20th, and everything is brown. I have hopes for rain or even snow in February but it's not looking good.
Sandy O'

Willow said...

What a lovely Springy -ish post I too was having vision of Spring now an then the past week when the weather went up to 50 a few times . Oh but this is
NEW ENGLAND and yesterday morn a blizzard set in this morning we still have gusty winds and it is till snowing with well over a foot of snow already on the ground !
I just finished the farm chores , luckily I just go with the flow and am still smiling .lol (they say we may get about 18 inches of snow before it ends 2 degree weather tonight, BRR)

angryparsnip said...

Beautiful.
I was thinking you had more snow at this time last year. I remember a photo from your front door or window showing everything covered in snow.
We are having lovely weather here for all the winter visitors but .... we need the rain plus the snow in our mountains or it will be an awful summer.

cheers, parsnip

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

My garden looks a mess at the moment. Last year's growth hasn't really died off properly and here comes Spring. And everything's so wet that I just make more muddy mess if I try to sort it out. As you point out Feb and March could yet hold some surprises.

Terry and Linda said...

Terribly dry where we are...California has put a call on Colorado's water so now we are wondering if we will even get to farm!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

JoAnn ( Scene Through My Eyes) said...

It certainly does look like spring is coming. Here they grow hundreds and hundreds of acres of daffodils and tulips - the daffodils are first, and you can see the massive rows are beginning to fill with greet shoots - here comes spring!

Heather said...

We have snowdrops and miniature cyclamen flowering as well as the odd polyanthus and primula here and there. I think the hellebores might be joining them but I have left the leaves on in case of bad weather so they are hiding underneath. I just don't like the idea of getting used to all this and then getting winter halfway through spring!

Dartford Warbler said...

Our snowdrops nearly drowned last week so their buds are still very small and shy! The winter jasmine is the only plant in flower so far.

Lovely to see your bursts of colour in the garden.

John Going Gently said...

.....almost there

Hildred said...

Oh, how very nice for you Pat. I went out the other day to see if the Lenten Roses are progressing as they should be, but there was ice on the ground between me and the plants and I daren't go any farther, - so I will wait a bit and hope the snow will melt away.

Hildred said...

They probably know that Easter is late this year and are biding their time.....

Cloudia said...

Cheering indeed!



ALOHA from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
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Cro Magnon said...

The warm weather has meant masses of Processionary Caterpillar nests in the pine trees. These are very dangerous for dogs (we have suffered). We need temperatures of below -15 C to kill them off, but this doesn't look likely. We dog owners will have to be extra vigilant this year.

The Weaver of Grass said...

What are processionary caterpillars I wonder - perhaps Cro could do us apost on them - I shall ask him.
Thanks for calling.