Author Topic: Signs of Spring  (Read 209327 times)

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1400 on: 05 April, 2021, 01:52:26 pm »
Yesterday: 15°C and a howling NE wind cold as a witch's tit. Yup, it's Spring all right.  Pdoyng.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1401 on: 05 April, 2021, 01:55:34 pm »
Jet washers.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1402 on: 05 April, 2021, 03:05:34 pm »
Yesterday: 15°C and a howling NE wind cold as a witch's tit. Yup, it's Spring all right.  Pdoyng.
Surely, witches tits are flat and their hearts are cold? I quote Alfred Steptoe, I believe.

I thought he was Albert... ;)
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1403 on: 05 April, 2021, 04:38:35 pm »
Today the farm hedges have long stretches with what looked like white berries as I went past.
Any idea what the bushes might be, please?

White blossom - Hawthorn (or May if you prefer). There’s a lot out atm.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1404 on: 05 April, 2021, 05:09:37 pm »
Thank you. I'll stop and check it properly next time.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1405 on: 05 April, 2021, 05:10:32 pm »
Yesterday: 15°C and a howling NE wind cold as a witch's tit. Yup, it's Spring all right.  Pdoyng.
Surely, witches tits are flat and their hearts are cold? I quote Alfred Steptoe, I believe.

I thought he was Albert... ;)
His twin  :) I could have quoted my mother. She probably taught it to Alfred and Albert.
Never knowingly under caffeinated

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1406 on: 05 April, 2021, 05:14:12 pm »
Yesterday: 15°C and a howling NE wind cold as a witch's tit. Yup, it's Spring all right.  Pdoyng.
Surely, witches tits are flat and their hearts are cold? I quote Alfred Steptoe, I believe.

I thought he was Albert... ;)
His twin  :) I could have quoted my mother. She probably taught it to Alfred and Albert.

Whatever.  It just started snowing.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1407 on: 05 April, 2021, 08:16:12 pm »
Today the farm hedges have long stretches with what looked like white berries as I went past.
Any idea what the bushes might be, please?

White blossom - Hawthorn (or May if you prefer). There’s a lot out atm.
It will be Blackthorn rather than Hawthorn. May flowers in May.

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1408 on: 08 April, 2021, 08:17:38 pm »
Today the farm hedges have long stretches with what looked like white berries as I went past.
Any idea what the bushes might be, please?

White blossom - Hawthorn (or May if you prefer). There’s a lot out atm.
It will be Blackthorn rather than Hawthorn. May flowers in May.
Prior to which one must not cast a clout...
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1409 on: 09 April, 2021, 09:23:03 am »
Today the farm hedges have long stretches with what looked like white berries as I went past.
Any idea what the bushes might be, please?

White blossom - Hawthorn (or May if you prefer). There’s a lot out atm.
It will be Blackthorn rather than Hawthorn. May flowers in May.
Prior to which one must not cast a clout...

Now does the out in that saying refer to the blossom showing, the month being over, or Ms. May de-closeting?

In France we're not supposed to ôte a fil before the fin d'April.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1410 on: 12 April, 2021, 07:32:45 pm »
In recent years I've taken it to mean the flower, although it wasn't until I was relatively ancient that I came to realise that there's an ambiguity.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1411 on: 25 April, 2021, 01:06:28 pm »
Huge great pidgeon bombing splatts on the car and house windows.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1412 on: 25 April, 2021, 11:18:11 pm »
Had to use the cold tap for my shower earlier for the first time this year.

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1413 on: 25 April, 2021, 11:28:13 pm »
Heard a cuckoo.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1414 on: 26 April, 2021, 10:11:56 am »
Heard a cuckoo.

No cuckoos round here but at least one active woodpecker.

Bluebells are starting to show in numbers as well. Pear tree is in full blossom.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1415 on: 01 May, 2021, 11:01:06 am »
Cuckoo mouthing off in the trees east of the village. Couldn't get a sight of it, though.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1416 on: 03 May, 2021, 07:26:52 pm »
Heard a cuckoo.

No cuckoos round here but at least one active woodpecker.

Bluebells are starting to show in numbers as well. Pear tree is in full blossom.

How close are you to the Kent marshes? I'm sure there will be cuckoos there.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1417 on: 04 May, 2021, 10:26:20 am »
Wild arum and garlic growing at the edge of the forest. Strawberries in flower up there, too.  Masses of other flowers in the fields, much prettier than garden stuff (other than the dandelions in our "lawn").
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1418 on: 04 May, 2021, 11:21:46 am »
Swallows.  Blooming loads of them!
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1419 on: 04 May, 2021, 01:04:51 pm »
Heard a cuckoo.

No cuckoos round here but at least one active woodpecker.

Bluebells are starting to show in numbers as well. Pear tree is in full blossom.

How close are you to the Kent marshes? I'm sure there will be cuckoos there.

Depends exactly which Kent marshes you mean - there's the Seasalter levels very close by, but I've never noticed cuckoos there.

I presume you're more likely to be thinking of the area between Gravesend and Rochester, which isn't very close, though we do go for walks up that way reasonably often, so I'll keep an ear out for cuckoos next time we're over there. Or do you mean Romney Marsh?
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1420 on: 04 May, 2021, 04:41:07 pm »
I saw my first swift of 2021 today, with fieldfares still around in large numbers. 

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1421 on: 12 May, 2021, 10:57:45 am »
also in the countryside near Oxford:

Svmer is icumen in
Lhude sing cuccu!
*

and so forth

*sound more or less masked by the incessant chatter of the starlings in the roof ::-)

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1422 on: 12 May, 2021, 02:25:09 pm »
Hawthorn trees:
Right tree is in full flower.
Left tree looks like blossom will break bud soon.
Do I cast a clout?

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1423 on: 14 May, 2021, 01:21:02 pm »
Half a clout.

Raw January day here in Southend today (11°C here at the moment). I cycled to Gunners Park, Shoeburyness, to meet my good pal Penelope. I took a flask of freshly-made coffee, or as freshly-made as it could have been given that it was subject to a 30 minute bike ride.

Summer visitors abounded. We could hear the cuckoo pretty much throughout our hour-long chill. I caught a brief glimpse of him from the south side of the lake. There were swifts, swallows, house martins and a whitethroat. There were also plenty of non-migratory water birds: at leat 6 swans, quite a few mallards, a shelduck flew over, there was a cormorant, and quite a few gulls.

Before I got there, Pen had photographed a kestrel that had put in an appearance.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #1424 on: 15 May, 2021, 09:28:13 pm »
Full clout seems imminent. Right hawthorn's flowers are very dense.
D took long johns off yesterday. Don't know if he donned them again today.
It is not very warm.