Wild daffodils

Daffodil, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, Far Arnside, Cumbria

Wifie and I walked over Arnside Knott to Far Arnside to see if the wild daffodils were flowering. You can see that they are just starting to open, it will be a few days before they reach their full glory. Following the hard winter, they are a couple of weeks later than they were here last year. These are growing close to the shoreline of Morecambe Bay where it is a little warmer than in Arnside itself. They are all pointing downhill towards the Bay. The daffodils that grow in the wood a couple of hundred metres from our house are perhaps a week behind.

The daffodil or Lent Lily is our only native species in Britian. It is more delicate than most of the larger cultivated varieties. This is the species that inspired Wordsworth's The Daffodils. It is not uncommon in Cumbria, preferring moister soils in oak and ash woods. I have a little book about Arnside published in the 1920's which says that Arnside was well known for the abundance of its daffodils. They are much more local now than then, and one of the areas described has a housing estate on top of it now.

We walked back via Holgates where we treated ourselves to some lunch, then home via Arnside Tower. Green hellebores grow along the lane to the Tower, and these are in flower now too. So hopefully if I can get to them in daylight this week, I shall be able to blip them soon.

At last today, the cloud broke and we had blue skies and sun. There were several siskins coming to the feeders, and in between, their wheezy calls were ringing out from the trees. Our house sparrows are doing well, and I noticed that we have at least one pair setting up home behind the barge boards, and another who seem to have appropriated the nest box that supposedly has a hole designed for birds no bigger than great tits. The sparrows used to nest in good numbers in the ivy that smothered the walls of the neighbour's house, but when it began to lift the slates, she killed it by cutting the stem at its base. Initially, we feared for our sparrow population, but they are finding alternative homes in our house and those of our neighbours.