Author Topic: Signs of Spring  (Read 208512 times)

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #850 on: 18 December, 2015, 09:13:21 pm »
I have heard song thrushes singing in both Southend and Maidstone.

have heard around here mistle thrush each morning, dunnocks singing, collared dove cooing and rooks sounding very spring like too. There`s a general spring like sound of bird song each morning at moment, none of the heart of winter still and quiet....Grass is still growing, might need cutting by Xmas again (well it would if lawn wasn`t waterlogged) and daffs are about 2" high green shoots. Primroses in flower too.
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #851 on: 19 December, 2015, 12:31:36 pm »
Our hexachorda is coming into flower. It was bought for us as a wedding present and usually flowers around our anniversary.

...in April!
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #852 on: 21 December, 2015, 08:53:17 pm »
I have heard song thrushes singing in both Southend and Maidstone.
I heard (my) first song thrush of this season last Tuesday. I was coming home from Xmas festivities with bonfires & cooking of unhealthy foods on the fires. There was also a lot of work sorting out an incomplete job of coppicing to provide fuel for the fires & brash up the hazel stools to protect from the wretched muntjacs. I've heard song thrushes earlier in December in previous years, so I've probably not been out enough of late. I rode home through the rain in shorts & did same on Thursday.

Our plants are rather confused. Various ground flora are flowering again The hazels haven't properly lost their leaves  I spotted a holly bush with flowers. A short trundle round the local lanes revealed inter alia a hazel with (male) catkins open & dangly with pollen clouds from a quick shake. Didn't see any female catkins on other hazels, so it looks a bit pointless...

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #853 on: 23 December, 2015, 03:35:43 pm »
what seems odd though is daffodils are in flower in places, ours though just 3" high shoots but virtually no sign of snowdrops---are they just sticking to their normal flowering time despite the mild weather ?
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above

Wowbagger

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #854 on: 23 December, 2015, 05:01:33 pm »
I suspect that they are an early variety. I don't suppose that there are many places that have been as warm as Southend, and we have plenty of leaf growth but no buds yet. Our snowdrops were in flower in mid-November this year, compared to late October last year. I think they must be an early variety as well.
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #855 on: 25 December, 2015, 09:53:42 am »
Dafs out by Christmas day at our place again.

Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #856 on: 02 January, 2016, 02:41:15 pm »
Lambs in the field across the road today.   :D

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #857 on: 03 January, 2016, 12:57:36 am »
Heard a Woodpecker drumming yesterday (2nd Jan).
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #858 on: 03 January, 2016, 10:04:37 am »
I think it is now spring all year round in most of England and Wales, except when it's autumn.
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #859 on: 03 January, 2016, 04:51:12 pm »
Does being cold and pish count as a sign of spring these days?  If so, that.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #860 on: 03 January, 2016, 07:57:48 pm »
Cold? I haven't even been able to see my breath yet!
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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #861 on: 03 January, 2016, 09:53:48 pm »
Computer says it got down to zero in the early hours of 2016, but I wasn't here to witness it on account of celebrating in a friend's oven modern flat with storage heaters.

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #862 on: 03 January, 2016, 11:45:32 pm »
I'm too old and dull to be out sleb rating at early hours.  ;) :( Besides, you're about one and a half degrees north of us!
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Basil

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #863 on: 22 January, 2016, 11:06:18 am »
Whilst dog emptying early this morning, I spotted my first lamb.  Mrs. B tells me she's been seeing them since last week.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #864 on: 22 January, 2016, 04:26:50 pm »
many lambs in field near Boughrood / Hay on Wye as well as a bumblebee (which I find amazing as 24 hr previous it was below freezing there !)
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #865 on: 29 January, 2016, 10:47:14 pm »
Celandines flowering in Kenilworth today. Checked earliest observations in previous years. They're a lot early albeit a bit tatty. I took pics with the mobile phone, but Photobucket claims to be down for maintenance  :'( .

White flowers of what looks like blackthorn, but isn't (very lacking in nasty pointy bits, also not convincingly black bark, nevertheless no leaves yet), in several places.

Hawthorn buds already burst into leaves on Tuesday. That was a 15-20 yr old hedge that we were facing up reading for laying in a a couple of weeks' time. I've seen several more today in roadside hedges.

Checked calendar to confirm it's still January ???.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #866 on: 30 January, 2016, 07:41:44 am »
Crocuses in a garden in Slough yesterday ☺
the slower you go the more you see

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #867 on: 31 January, 2016, 06:04:52 pm »
En route Presteigne > Ludlow, blackthorn (or possibly bullus) in flower, ornamental garden cherries in flower, great tit, chaffinch , singing---reckon even caught a lark of skylark song too, and of course quite a few daffodils too  :thumbsup:
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above

Cudzoziemiec

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #868 on: 01 February, 2016, 02:38:02 pm »
I'm not convinced this is spring yet, more we've had a very long autumn.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #869 on: 01 February, 2016, 07:34:41 pm »
I'm not convinced this is spring yet, more we've had a very long autumn.

are you thinking 2014 March ? April type Spring ??
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above

hellymedic

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Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #870 on: 01 February, 2016, 08:40:02 pm »
Looks like there's blossom on next-door neighbour's fruit tree.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #871 on: 01 February, 2016, 11:49:19 pm »
I'm not convinced this is spring yet, more we've had a very long autumn.

are you thinking 2014 March ? April type Spring ??
Wasn't 2014 a very cold March? Or was that 2013? What I'm thinking is that, at least here (Bristol) we haven't really had an identifiable winter, just wet, mild autumn merging into wet, mild... January.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #872 on: 02 February, 2016, 11:36:19 am »
It was 2013. I remember because we did all our loooong training rides for LEL that month under freezing cold, sometimes on icy roads, which is very unusual around here in March.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #873 on: 03 February, 2016, 04:13:19 pm »
A cherry trees in blossom and the daffodils are flowering amongst the snow drops in the church yard. This is all exceptionally early for up here on the Wolds.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Signs of Spring
« Reply #874 on: 04 February, 2016, 05:52:47 pm »
quite a few cherry trees showing imminent flowers, a few hawthorns now in young leaf, numerous daffodils---they`ll all be finished at this rate by St David`s Day  :o
....after the `tarte de pommes`, and  fortified by a couple of shots of limoncellos,  I flew up the Col de Bavella whilst thunderstorms rolled around the peaks above