Blooming marvelous

The last couple of weeks have seen a welcome upturn in both weather and lengthening daylight hours. Its so nice to go home from work in the light. But what has been most remarkable is the milder weather, climaxing today in temperatures reaching around a balmy 16 degrees centigrade.


Aside from a short cold snap last weekend, the fine weather has begun to induce more birds into song and generate many plants into flowering. While today I also managed to see my first butterfly of the year, a Brimstone. These lovely little beasts, which lay their eggs on Buckthorns, are invariably the first to be seen in spring and it is said their butter colour gave rise to the name butterfly. Although I had my camera with me, I wasn't able to get a shot of it. However, over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to collect a few shots of some of the plants I've seen in flower:

Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara (c Rotton Yarns)

Cyclamen, Cyclamen hederifolium, with a ladybird (c Rotton Yarns)

Crocus, Crocus x luteus in a sea of Snowdrops, Galanthus elwesii  (c Rotton Yarns)

While out today for my lunchtime stroll, I was also taken by this large oak tree basking in the sunshine:

The English oak, Quercus robur (c Rotton Yarns)