“Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.”
From “Spring” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
No “racing lambs” this morning, but spring is definitely in the air! Lovely to find my first flowering Early Spider Orchids of the year – only a couple of inches tall, but with their ‘furry’ flower already marked with a pale blue-grey ‘pi symbol’. Give it a week or two to come and see lots more (and taller!). Nearby, lots of the black spotted leaves of Early Purple Orchid, though none in bloom just yet.
Lots of other spring flowers to enjoy, with Hairy Violets scattered across the downland like blue gems, with patches of white flowered Whitlow Grass and Early Scurvy Grass, pale yellow Primroses, and bright, shiny yellow Lesser Celandines starting to open their petals as the sky clears.
In the meadows, Cowslips are becoming more numerous, nodding gently in the chilly breeze, while the hedgerows are full of white Blackthorn blossom and the vivid green leaves of Hawthorn, with fresh Honeysuckle leaves scrambling over their branches.
In the woodland, darker blue Dog Violets are in bloom, among carpets of Ramsons leaves and the green spiky leaves of Three-cornered Leek.
On the Diagonal Path, Gorse flowers blaze bright yellow, filling the air with the scent of coconut, with a Stonechat hopping among the spiky branches. Nearby, a male Blackcap hops among the branches of a Holm Oak, with Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit and Great Tit also busy this morning.
Skylarks weave a gauze of sound above the meadows, with ‘cronk’ of a Raven and wails of a Peregrine Falcon heard above the woods.
Just outside the Learning Centre, a glossy black Oil Beetle Meloe proscarabeus crawls through the grass, with Bloody-nose Beetles also seen.