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!

Snowdrops and long tailed tits

Winters can be depressing for many people and I have to say I particularly look forward to warmer days with more hours of daylight. Having said that, and enjoying the many facets of nature, some winter days are rewarding. One such was yesterday when we had some brightness and the opportunity was taken for a stroll. I needed one or two items of shopping from the relatively small but useful supermarket that adjoins the petrol station at the top of the hill and it's possible to approach said shop by quiet country lanes rather than directly up the more busy main road. Walking along one of these quiet byways I was rewarded first with the sight of a small clump of snowdrops fully out and then a minute or so lately a party of long tailed tits attracted my attention.

I have to say that seeing any of our feathered friends gives me pleasure but none more so than long tailed tits. All the titmice are attractive in my opinion but surely none more so than these. One of the bonuses is that they can't be confused with any other British bird and, with the trees devoid of leaves, this is a great time to see them flitting about.

We had promised temperatures of about +3 degrees but out of the wind it felt quite balmy and certainly seemed considerably warmer than what the MetOffice had promised us. However we have been told to brace ourselves for more snow later tomorrow and high winds as well although it could be the moors getting the worst of it. We shall see soon enough.

Snowdrops starting to appear

One of the real bonuses about living in the south west is the fact that we get something of a head start when it comes to the early spring flowers making their presence known. So it was a joy yesterday to see a clump of snowdrops out near Cotehele. Speaking of that venerable place I noted the other day that witch hazel was in flower in its grounds and it was nice to see another bush in evidence in a cottage garden as we walked into Metherell.

This ramble was part of a stroll organised by a local walking group who always organise a pub lunch as part of the proceedings. We therefore indulged ourselves at 'The Carpenters Arms' at Metherell where I chose Calamari (coated rings of squid), quite a favourite of mine. What was unusual, to me at any rate, was the fact that they were accompanied by a hot chilli sauce. All very enjoyable. Time was pressing after lunch as we needed to get back and as our companions were going to return to the cars by a slightly devious route we bid farewell to our friends and retraced our steps the way we came. It was on this return journey that we spotted the snowdrops, somehow they had been missed in the morning. I guess that this was due to the amount of conversation taking place! Yes it's nice to have a social walk occasionally but for someone such as myself who has a passion for all things natural free flowing talk can sort of get in the way at times.

I noticed the first snowdrop in my garden this morning, not fully out but the white being very much in evidence. One of my next door neighbours reported a similar state of affairs in their garden, however they also have crocuses which are also just starting to flower.

It's great to have the first stirrings of new life so soon after the shortest day. Inevitably there are times when I wouldn't mind 12 months of summer every year but on reflection it is nice to have seasonal weather because each part of the year has something to bring.

Violets and a snowdrop seen on walk

The weather being reasonably settled and my needing both vegetables and eggs, obtainable from a roadside stall, led a friend and myself to go on a four to five mile walk this morning. We had another motive as this particular route would take us past a favoured spot for violets near Calstock Church and also by a garden where we normally see quite a profusion of snowdrops at the edge of the lawn. I'm pleased to say that we weren't disappointed there being several violets out but with many more to come. As to the garden with the snowdrops there were plenty of bulbs showing above ground with one of them actually in flower! Not too bad for the end of December.

Instead of coming straight home from Calstock we made a slight diversion to see how well the daffodils were coming on in the Danescombe Valley. Much too early for those to be out but we were gladdened to see many clumps of these magical flowers well above the surface. Hogweed and red campion were two species that we noticed in flower. We also had an excellent sighting of a favourite bird - the nuthatch, and heard a number of birds singing.

It's great to see signs of Spring so soon after the shortest day.