Finding Spring!

After the horrendous stormy wet winter, the spring has come very quickly to us in the south Wales.  The clear blue sky tempted me to go out for a walk when I woke up.

Honey bees were busy with collecting nectar from the early cherry blossoms on our front garden.  As the vegetation is activated, the animals get active, too.

We went for a walk to the woodland near by our town at noon.  The sun was shining gently yet we wore a thin jacket, just in case.  In the shade it can be still chilly.

At the beginning we saw the scars of the wet stormy winter.  The ground has been becoming firmer but still muddy.  On a footpath of the woodland, there were deep cracks on the ground resulted by the excessive rain fall.  We then noticed the path was actually closed due to the cracks when having passing over the end of the path.  There was no sign at the beginning of the path (for us not for other people from the other side, perhaps).  It was too late.  We went through safely anyway.

Various plants were now showing their beautiful flowers; primrose, lesser calandine, daffodil, wild anemone, etc.

When we were walking toward to the beech woodland, the subtle smell drifted.  Wild garlic!  As I expected, the young wild garlic leaves were sprouting everywhere on the ground.  We picked some of them, young soft leaves, for our today's supper.  (We made the wild garlic dip sauce.)  An elderly gentleman with two sticks (presumably Nordic Walking?) said to us with a wide smile as passing by the woodland footpath, 'Are you going to have a fresh wild garlic salad tonight?'  'Yes, maybe' (I wasn't bothered to object his kind suggestion.)  Maybe it tastes nice, mix together with other baby leaves, splash balsamic vinegar and olive oil....

People with children and/or dogs were walking leisurely in the warm spring sunlight.  Children and dog were enjoying running around in the woodland.

In the woodland curiously vivid red fungi (scarlet elf cup) were growing here and there like fallen red rose petal.  I don't know if they are edible and taste, but saw some fungi eaten by someone (maybe snail?).  I'm not keen on foraging fungi, better to enjoy the humorous shapes and colours.

Toward the end of the walk, we went out of a field where a kind of pussy willow bushes (goat willow?) with furry catkins were.

Blackbirds, robins, probably sparrows and other small birds were chirping somewhere we couldn't see, to find their partners, or maybe just enjoying the warm dry sunny day.