Unsettled Easter ahead

Easter weekend is almost on us and it looks as if it is going to be very unsettled so far as the weather is concerned. A shame for visitors to the West Country to be sure. Whilst the worst of the snow has been "up north" in Scotland and Northern Ireland, Dartmoor also saw some with Princetown waking up to about two inches of it yesterday morning. From near the top of the hill that leads south from our village one can see across to the western flank of Dartmoor and from that viewpoint this afternoon I couldn't see any snow still lying. It's possible though that snow remains further into the moor.

The unusually cold winter certainly put a check on nature, but now it seems to be catching up. We are well and truly into the "yellow season" with daffodils, lesser celandine and forsythia well out. Good to see plenty of wood anemones in bloom as well, these do very well in the local wooded banks of the Tamar. Talking of the Tamar, that river was flowing quite high and fast a couple of days ago. I don't know where they nest but kingfishers do get seen in the area close to the weir which is not many minutes walk from here. The River Tamar is liable to rise and fall markedly over a short period of time and the thought crosses my mind: do the kingfishers nest high enough not to be flooded. I imagine they have it worked out!

End of month, my cold gone, spring coming

Well hear we are then, the last day of February and the cold I've been plagued with for the last few days nearly gone. This is getting into the good time of year for me with noticeably longer days and although hardly tropical there is the sense that any further cold spells shouldn't be prolonged. Apart from the snowdrops which have been excellent in my locality this year other flowers have understandably been reluctant to get going. This valley was famous for the cultivation of daffodils and many of the fields have been abandoned but the daffodils still come up and are an amazing sight but mostly not quite yet. There are wild daffodils too if you know where to look and there will be swathes of wood anemone to come in certain places near the river. The south west is even more special in spring!

Wood anemone flowers early

A particularly pleasing sight in Spring is to see an abundance of wood anemones in flower. Now January should be far too early to see them but we were amazed to see one fully out yesterday (the 23rd). This location, right on the bank of the Tamar, is a good spot for both wild daffodils and wood anemones in Spring and a joy they are when in bloom but how come that just one anemone is doing its thing whereas there is no sign yet of any of its companions showing. Strange thing nature at times. It was pleasing on the way home to hear a mistle thrush singing. I find that wildlife can give enormous pleasure even with the more common species, and in any month as well.