Author Topic: Signs of Spring  (Read 208752 times)

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #625 on: 20 November, 2013, 02:42:17 pm »
Leaves on birches and beeches by hospital finally going yellow. It's a south-facing bank so that probably keeps it green longer.
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Basil

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #626 on: 20 November, 2013, 04:00:17 pm »
I was digging over a border at the w/e.  I'd forgotten there were snowdrops in there.  They weren't showing above ground, but when I accidently dug them up I saw that the whole clump had good strong green shoots bursting out of them.  I apologised profusely to them and re-buried them to their original depth.
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #627 on: 08 January, 2014, 12:12:11 am »
Hazel catkins open & dangly today in a sheltered valley - Finham Brook fwiw. It's a tad early, but December was well above average temperature & the Midlands have missed the worst of the extreme weather so far.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #628 on: 08 January, 2014, 09:45:07 am »
Can I count lambs as a sign of Spring?  One of the farms here was lambing at the beginning of December.  The farm where I'm renting a shed/yard for my cows over winter has several hundred lambs in the barns & fields that were born between Xmas and New Year.  They are super cute.

Basil

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #629 on: 08 January, 2014, 10:29:54 am »
Crocus shoots showing and well established in Welsh garden
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Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #630 on: 08 January, 2014, 09:45:34 pm »
A magpie shifting nesting material today. Also, catkins. As per Crumbling Nick in the West Midlands, we have had a very mild "winter" so far. The mean temperature for December was 7.4°C in which there were 17 days with a maximum temperature in excess of 10°C. So far for January the mean has been 9.4°C and every day has been above 10°C. Long may it continue: for every day it's mild, that's one day fewer on which snow is likely to be a problem.
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #631 on: 08 January, 2014, 09:50:30 pm »
A magpie shifting nesting material today.

Bluetits and blackbirds have been scouting their nest sites in my garden this week too. I also saw a pigeon with a beak full of twigs but they'll breed anytime, anywhere!

I just hope we have a mild winter/spring and they have a good year.
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Morrisette

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #632 on: 09 January, 2014, 09:26:08 am »
Ducklings on a village pond  :-\ very tiny fluffy ones. Bit too early, I think! They won't like the Polar Vortex  :(
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Basil

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #633 on: 09 January, 2014, 09:28:05 am »
It always makes me happy when this thread starts to poke its head up though the leaf litter.

Anyway, I’ve just noticed the daff shoots are beginning to show in Brum.  They've probably been there for a while but I wasn't looking for them.  I hope we don’t get to severe a late cold snap.  Last year really knocked them about.
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #634 on: 06 February, 2014, 09:39:40 pm »
Lots of leaves in the road verges today. The wake up call was a clump of wild arum this morning. It eventually registered that the cow parsley leaves have been visible for several weeks. This evening I noticed a long swathe of little celandine leaves in a place I hadn't noticed flowers in previous years.

Passed a clump of snowdrops in flower on Tuesday & again today. They're on the fringes of a nature reserve (Temple Balsall) that has a lot of wild snowdrops, but those by the road might be a cultivated variety. Must ride back & visit the reserve soon to see how the woodland snowdrops are progressing - it's less than 5 miles from home.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #635 on: 07 February, 2014, 09:04:18 am »
Snowdrops on ncn4 near Windsor leisure centre  :)
the slower you go the more you see

woollypigs

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #636 on: 07 February, 2014, 09:12:52 am »
A cheery tree in near full blossom at Airedale hospital on the 8th of Jan. Ok surrounded on four sides by warm hospital walls.

Snowdrops have been out and about for over a week now in our local ginnel.
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Ruth

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #637 on: 07 February, 2014, 09:48:21 am »
I've got snowdrops in my front garden  :)

The other bulbs I planted are coming up in little green spikes, so that cat has taken to pooing on the grass instead of teh flower bed. 

Still, I'm looking forward to the daffodils blooming.

BrianI

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #638 on: 07 February, 2014, 03:18:38 pm »
Saw my first house fly today!   :thumbsup:

had a fly cemetery with my coffee this afternoon to celebrate!   ;)

Gus

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #639 on: 07 February, 2014, 03:34:48 pm »
frozen ground turns into 5" deep mud. well it's still winter but 7oC   :thumbsup:

Basil

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #640 on: 07 February, 2014, 03:46:05 pm »
A butterfly  ???  I think it was Painted Lady, but I didn't get close enough to be sure.  Poor thing, I doubt that it will survive long enough to mate.

And another sign of spring, I notice that the cricket square in Llandysul has been roped off.
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Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #641 on: 07 February, 2014, 04:12:47 pm »
Violets in flower at the Museum of Kent Life, Maidstone.
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #642 on: 07 February, 2014, 11:50:22 pm »
Snowdrops, cherry blossom, a crocus & a couple of daisies.
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Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #643 on: 08 February, 2014, 08:07:19 am »
Snowdrops here.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #644 on: 13 February, 2014, 09:26:32 pm »
Saw celandines in flower today on the sunny bank where the earliest ones usually appear. On the morning "commute" there was a clump with more than a few expectant yellow balls on the flower stems ;). On the way home a few had opened up, and there was another flower half a metre away that I'd missed in the morning: it had evidently been open for longer than just today.

A couple of miles further on towards the day's work, a skylark was singing. It took a wee while to identify positively - the straight mile to Meriden is pretty noisy at 9 a.m. - but spotted the bird & watched him descend to a roadside field. Aren't they supposed to be the sound of summer?

Basil

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #645 on: 13 February, 2014, 09:37:54 pm »
A skylark in Feb?  Wow.
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Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #646 on: 13 February, 2014, 10:37:31 pm »
A skylark in Feb?  Wow.

I completely failed to mention a couple of skylarks I saw and heard singing about three weeks ago.
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Wascally Weasel

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #647 on: 14 February, 2014, 12:09:21 pm »
Snowdrops out in St James's Park - daffs clearly coming up too.

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #648 on: 14 February, 2014, 12:29:07 pm »
The daffodils are well into bud in Priory park. Their heads are beginning to bend and there is a hint of yellow about them.

Bloody horrible morning though. Windy, leaden and with a stinging drizzle - the sort of weather described so well by George Orwell when he's at his most depressing.
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hellymedic

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #649 on: 16 February, 2014, 01:25:41 pm »
Daffodils in my garden are open.
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