Daffs and giant redwood

At last - an afternoon that actually felt like Spring. And just here it also looked like Spring, as the daffodils bloom in bunches at the foot of the giant redwood trees - they of the soft red bark - in Benmore Gardens today. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the bus parties were rebounding their coaches as we arrived this afternoon, noticing how bus passengers always look cold as they scurry back on board; presumably they never get enough exercise to warm them as much as the tearoom did and are therefore in a hurry to return to the womb of their transport ...

Best bit of the afternoon - apart from the daffodils and the birdsong - was seeing three red squirrels. The first scampered down the side of the redwood avenue just after I took this photo - such lithe, swift movement as it poured itself over the grass; the other two were feeding from the peanut boxes outside the squirrel hide. I filmed them over the top of the six-foot wicker screen round the area, while I peered through a gap in the slats, and was able to watch them climbing right inside the boxes and pulling their tails in as they fed before suddenly popping up out of the lid. 

A lovely afternoon - though when we looked beyond the gardens we could see the snowy hills to remind us of the weather we've just endured. Maybe it's done for now?