Friday 28 February 2014

Spring is busting out all over....

well, perhaps that is an exaggeration, but all the species crocus are in full flood and my lovely purple striped ones (my favourites) are beginning to put in an appearance.   Those bright, dark purple ones always remind me of those bright purple boiled sweets we had as kids, we always called them pin cushions.

Best of all the Lenten roses (hellebore) are in full bud and a bit more sunshine will bring them out.   Beautiful.

And to add to all that, another harbinger of Spring is that Mike, the hedge-cutter, is here with his fancy machine.   We like to get our hedges cut in good time to give them a bit of time to grow before bird-nesting time.   The hedges in the photograph here are usually home to the nests of hedge sparrows and yellow hammers.   Blackbirds seem to prefer the holly hedges which are higher.   There are plenty of those round the vegetable garden.

March tomorrow - it can do what it likes in the way of weather now can't it, because we know it won't be for long.   Incidentally, speaking of weather, how quickly the Somerset levels and the banks of the Thames went out of the news once the sensationalism had been taken out of it.   I for one would like to know - has the water begun to recede, how are they all coping, has any of that promised money from the Government filtered down, has the clean-up begun?   But of course, it is not news anymore is it?   The papers have all moved on elsewhere.




15 comments:

angryparsnip said...

Oh My Goodness ! The new chickens first photo ?
What lovely photos of your spring flowers.

cheers, parsnip

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Pat, the color of the light and the spring clouds are wonderful to see in your pix. Alas, the weather peeps are predicting up to 2 feet of snow by Monday morning. Arrrrgghhhh!!!! It was 10F / -12C this morning. Alas, no crocuses for moi!

Anonymous said...

I'm always delighted to see your photos. We didn't have much winter this year. We are hoping for a wetter spring!
Sandy @ My Yellow Swing

Heather said...

Lovely hens and crocuses. There are signs of spring here though it has felt a lot colder today. I think a lot of Somerset is still under water but huge pumps have been installed to try to improve things. It will be many months before the area returns to normal. A fund has been set up in addition to the money the Government has promised, and more immediate aid is being distributed by volunteers to those who have been evacuated from their homes.

thelma said...

Bad luck with the ankle pain, hopefully there will be pain relief from the doctor if nothing else. The hens should keep you amused now as spring advances.

thelma said...

Bad luck with the ankle pain, hopefully there will be pain relief from the doctor if nothing else. The hens should keep you amused now as spring advances.

Dartford Warbler said...

How lovely to meet your New Girls in the hen house!

I agree about the sudden lack of news about the worst of the floods. Those poor flooded people must feel quite abandoned by the media but the rest of us have not forgotten them.

thousandflower said...

Even though I don't live in Britain I, too, have been wondering about the flooded areas. I t always annoys me when there is no followup on stories like this.

Terry and Linda said...

I found this very interesting. we don't have hedge rows like you do here. I also love your header!

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Robin Mac said...

Lovely new header. Sorry your ankle can't be fixed. I hafd been wondering about the flooded areas also. Same thing happpens over here - headlines for a few days then nothing. Hope thes hens are good layers. Cheers

Robin Mac said...

Lovely new header. Sorry your ankle can't be fixed. I hafd been wondering about the flooded areas also. Same thing happpens over here - headlines for a few days then nothing. Hope thes hens are good layers. Cheers

Cro Magnon said...

We have daffs and cowslips; no crocus or hellebores as yet. Slight frost this morning.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Yes, Crocuses, or is it Croci, are doing really well this year.
I'd like to see a bit of follow up on the news too. A few weeks ago there was a war in South Sudan but since Ukraine has had such problems South Sudan has disappeared from the bulletins - no oil of course.

The Weaver of Grass said...

New things popping up daily - 1st of March today - can't be bad can it? Thanks for visiting.

Crafty Green Poet said...

lovely crocuses, our hellebores are out already, such lovely flowers

I think it's appalling that the media hasn't covered the aftermath of the floods, but at heast issues around climate change do suddenly seem to be being taken a little more seriously by some leading politicians and media outlets