Clarity

Rather than stay in and miss the rare Winter sunshine today before the cold fog rolled in again, we decided to take a walk to Winkworth Arboretum. I've seen crocuses and daffodils in sunny sheltered gardens since about the second week in January, and I've seen snowdrops over the last couple of weeks in woodland. I looked forward to searching for signs of Spring in the trees and plants. I didn't need to look far!



I was stunned at how many daffodils there were out. There were many more green spears without flowers as yet, so I think the display will become even more impressive. There were also many buds on trees and shrubs and a profusion of bluebell leaves coming up.



I wonder what the coming week's severe cold weather will have on all of this growth? I hope it will only slow it down and not damage the emerging foliage. With a bit of luck we will have a very long daffodil season this year. Last year's seemed so short as it was so warm.

There were many robins about on this walk - it seemed everywhere we looked there was a little brown fluffball sat in a tree. I didn't see any nests, although I have seen one baby rabbit munching at the side of the road last week. That did give me a surprise - I wasn't expecting to see baby rabbits for some weeks yet.

The air was lovely and cold, most likely due to the freezing fog that was lurking in between the hills. The sunshine was nowhere near as warming as yesterday's, but was bright and clear and invigorating.

We ended this walk with a cup of tea of course, and I went home with renewed desire to get on with some painting and knitting. I'll get the time from somewhere!