April 26th – The cowslips on Clayhanger Common are beautiful too, and being my favourite flowers of all, it’s great to see them so healthy and profuse.
That one particular flowerhead is a stunner.
This spot is where I spread cowslip seed from my pockets in 2014. Nice to see it took hold.
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April 26th – Following my note on finding some lovely yellow archangel flowers in Footherley a few days ago, I need that it was a member of the nettle family – and to prove the similarity, the dead nettles are looking gorgeous on Clayhanger Common at the moment.
The flowers and leaves are similar – the colour is the big difference though.
These nettles – which have no sting, hence the name ‘dead nettle’ – have very sweet, tasty nectar which can be sucked from a plucked flower, but probably best to find some above dog pee height before trying it out…
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April 9th – Another welcome sight indicating the ever-rolling season’s wheel are cowslips, my favourite flower in the whole world.
Cowslips were very, very unusual when I was a kid. These days they grow everywhere like weeds – and I collect the seeds when they go over and spread them anywhere I think needs a bit of yellow in the spring. And there are very few places that don’t benefit from a bit of yellow.
These hardy but delicate looking members of the primrose family are scattered over Clayhanger common – many from the result of my guerrilla seeding – and are truly divine. I love them.
Welcome back.
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April 4th – A break in the rain, and I made a dash for it, mostly avoiding getting too wet, but oh my goodness it was cold.
Not cold enough for snow, though.
Warm enough for spring snowflakes, as I found this clump growing and flowering beautifully at Sandhills. Gorgeous white flowers with delicate green tipped petals, snowflakes look a lot like snowdrops, but are bigger and bushier and flower later.
A real treat on an awful day.
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March 21st – Meanwhile, up at Kings Hill Park things are moving swiftly on. The crocuses have gone now, and the daffodils – always early here – are past their best and dying off.
However, in the patch of wildflowers near the gate, there are loads and loads of tiny flowers which I thought were violets, but now I’m not sure in a lilac, pastel blue and sky blue selection.
I can’t identify them for sure, but I can say they’re absolutely delightful.
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March 21st – A remarkable early riser at the moment in this early and temperate spring is the purple dead-nettle. Not usually seen until mid April around here, there are lovely little mauve-pink patches of this small plant in scrubs, commons, heaths, hedgerows and towpaths everywhere I go.
It doesn’t sting, and I love how the upper leaves have a red colour that compliments the delicate blooms.
In the last couple of years I’ve really come to appreciate nettles – yellow archangel is another member of the family which will soon appear and it’s stunningly beautiful too.
A real gem.
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March 20th – As if to cement my good feeling, on a grass verge in Stonnall, an annual first and my favourite flower: The cowslip.
These tough, beautiful little primroses are my absolute favourite flower and it’s always wonderful to welcome them back into my life.
Let’s hope this solitary soldier is the first of a record year!
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March 15th – Heading home from the station after a long afternoon legal meeting in Birmingham, in order to mitigate a rather evil wind, I took to the back lanes.
On my way, I passed this wonderful sight, which catches me by surprise every spring.
They must have been planted by some wonderful individual as they go in colour bands.
A beautiful thing.
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February 12th – One of the most reliable indicators of an ending winter are the daffodils on the corner of Wood Lane and Chester Road near the (soon to be closed) Wyevale garden centre.
Every year without fail they are the earliest patch of wild daffodils I see, usually appearing in the second or third week of February.
This morning, they were blooming bright yellow for my as I rode to the station, like old pals stand at the roadside to greet me.
Hello, old friends. Welcome back. Good to see you, and the springtime you bring. Looks like we both survived another long, dark winter.
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February 3rd – After a very cold night, a lovely, sunny and almost warm spring day was welcome. Around midday, with the sun on my cheeks it could almost have been March, not February.
In the cemetery opposite St Annes Church in Chasetown, the serious business of advancing the season is pushing forward undaunted by a bit of ice and snow. The annual riot of crocuses is just kicking off, and was beautiful, but the primroses in the churchyard itself were weather lovely too.
Just what I needed after this thankfully brief cold snap.
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