Monday 17 January 2011

First Primrose


It seemed that we had not seen the sun , or a patch of blue sky, for all the dreary days of the week just gone. Last night it rained again and it is raining now, but for a few short hours there was respite and time to work outside and to walk. Out in the rain soaked garden, mild air has brought small, early flowers into bloom. Primroses shine out from the bank of a flooded pond.


Yellow stars of winter jasmine dot straight and leafless stalks beneath a window.


First daffodils spear through a bed of fallen leaves.


Clusters of young celandine leaves ........


.....and a first, pink pulmonaria blooms.......


........while snowdrop buds show a faint, pointed white among their fine, green shoots.


The field at the bottom of the slope has flooded once again.


Bare lime tree branches flicker their reflection in the pond........


....and the hole in the cherry tree, where the hornet wasps` nest has all but gone, seems deeper. The wood is wetter and more rotten than before.


Pale pinkish-purple flowers on a dead nettle in the cherry leaves.......


....and thick stems of angelica are bursting into leaf.


Out in the lane, small torrents speed heathland water downwards, running over ditch banks and washing the flinted gravel clean.



Bright yellow-orange fungus, wet like melting jelly, grows on dead branches of gorse.



A strange, contorted birch stem seems to cast a sad and upturned eye towards the clouds.


Up in the gorse thickets, first flowers cheer the dull , spiky greens with a flash of gold.
There is a country tale that gorse is never without a flower, but that is not true of the gorse on Forest heathlands. Through the deep winter, the flowers do not show. To see the beginnings of gorse bloom on a January day is enough to lift the gloomiest of moods.


Down beside a stream, is a moss encircled rabbit hole in the bank, just higher than the water ever flows.


9 comments:

Kath said...

Very atmospheric pics, of the tentative signs of Spring, in the dull damp Month of January.
Its been the same here, but it gives one a little thrill to see small signs of regrowth.

crafty cat corner said...

Thanks for such a beautiful post, all the things I love in one post.
Am I wrong or is it a bit early for the primrose?
What I am constantly in awe of is the fact that all of this has been going on under our noses through the ice, snow and freezing conditions. How much more resilient nature is than us humans.

The Weaver of Grass said...

These pictures fill me with joy! We are a long way behind you up here, although there are Christmas roses out and the snowdrops are pushing through - but those primroses - how I ency you those.

Bovey Belle said...

You are weeks ahead of us. It was SO bitterly cold here for so long that it has knocked everything right back. It was lovely to see the first flowers - especially the Primrose. thank you for sharing.

ChrisJ said...

Spring is here! -- in January. But being in the south perhaps it does come earlier than in Yorkshire. Primroses, snowdrops, daffodils, celandines. They bring back wonderful memories. Love your January walk.

bellaboo said...

Such a lovely post! Cheered up my day,thankyou. :0)

WOL said...

Thanks, I needed that! Nothing blooming here. Everything dry, dull, brown.

Greentwinsmummy said...

Oooooo you have a pulmonaria as well! mine are all soggy slimy snowed damaged slump heaps sigh! I adore their flowers :o) Your primrose is more perky than the one I saw in the woods lol!Its so soggy everywhere isnt it yuch.Gosh you have winter jasmine and gorse, I am waiting for my forsythia to flower,that always cheers
GTM xx x

Rowan said...

I have snowdrops almost in flower and winter jasmine but I'm amazed that you have primroses and pulmonarias already! Lots of lovely signs of spring but it really shows the difference between the north and the south.