Still Very Wet, Yet Spring Approaching

This January was one of the wettest in the past 100 years; I have read such articles in the various mass medias.  Every day someone is reporting about the bad weather, disasters such as flooding, high tide and storm...

Now it is in the second half of February, and the rain fall has been still going on.  I caught a few sunny hours last week for a walk last week.

The buds of English Oak on the field were caught by my eyes.  The red bronzy buds in the blue sky pleased me.

But, as I walked to the edge of a woodland, there were streams everywhere, from higher to lower level.  The footpath, pictured above, became a stream, in which the clear water was streaming and it would be wonderful if it had been a real stream.  But it was to be a footpath. Wearing a pair of sturdy wellies was reasonable.

I walked in an oak and beech rich woodland.  There I walked a lot, and yet didn't notice the oak trees were actually downy oak until I saw the fallen leaves on the footpath.  I sadly witnessed several big fallen trees there.  Presumably they could not keep their trunks against the gust of wind and could not keep their roots in the loose ground wetted by the enormous rain fall.

At the edge of the woodland there is a long row of beech trees.  In the summer it is like a green alley.  In the early summer there transforms into a fairytale-like scene with the white flower of wild garlic.  I walked into the beech land.

There!  The shiny young wild garlic leaves were sprouting out from the ground between the fallen beech leaves and twigs.

On a beech stump these fungi were thriving in the winter.

I saw bunch of snowdrop on the sunny slope of a farmhouse at the end of the beech alley.

At a side of the footpath, protected from wind and cold, I found tiny cream white primrose. 

This winter has been wet but mild, which wake the plants up much earlier than usual, I suppose.  Today the temperature has gone up over 10 Celsius (actually, thermometer showed 12 Celsius!).  The plants cannot keep their dormancy (I didn't know this word; the slow metabolism) in the warm winter and the early visit of the spring!  

Created 'My Pages' on the blog!

You may have already noticed, but just in case still not noticed; I have created 'My Pages' on my blog, which show my art work in order.  The art pieces were uploaded as I created with explanations or stories.  But 'May Pages' are sorted in different art making methods.  Every art work has a short caption, which looks neat!

Please look at the picture below:

Under the front page picture, you can see the 3 categories circled with a black line.  They are 'My Pages'.  Just click one of these, one of  'My Pages' appears.  The art pieces in 'Drawings' are not new but not yet introduced on my blog diary.  They are still ongoing and more pieces should be put in.

Paper Cut Work: Winter Woodland 2014

Today is the 1st of February 2014.  I notice the sunlight is getting stronger day by day.  What I am pleased is, the sky is bright when I get up in the morning.  I feel the tiny bit of spring. 

This winter, however, has been relatively mild and quite wet.  I saw a flooding ditch like a long pond or a stream alongside of the meadows where I often have a walk.  The ground of clay soil is everywhere muddy.  Around the meadows and the woodlands near my house I saw a decent mount of berries and rose hips, which feed wild animals.  Or, the mild warm autumn gave so many berries and fruits on the plants that animals cannot consume all of them?  

Anyway birds enjoy the very ripe red rose hips (I'd like to taste them!).  Ivy vines have the fruits ripening for animals.  The wet weather promotes fungi and mushrooms on dead tree trunks or in fallen leaves.  Small creatures like ladybirds and snails are waiting for the spring under the sheltered leaves.  The wooly inflorescence of traveller's joy (the old man'd beard) are still hanging on branches, waiting for their departure on a dry day.

The cream-coloured male catkins of hazel trees are hanging on the branches, and you can find tiny tiny red female catkins when looking closely at the branches.  (I couldn't put them on my work.)

This work, therefore, include a lot of berries and fruits.  The next winter might be much colder and snow.  But so far, the winter in the south Wales didn't let the animals starving, and the spring is approaching.

Winter Woodland 2014

(A3, original paper cut, processed with GIMP)