Garden snowdrops

Every spring has to have a snowdrop blip - and ours are now just about at the peak of perfection. The sunshine and milder temperatures have raised all our spirits, and enabled Pete and I to spend more time outdoors coaxing our overgrown wilderness back into some sort of semblance of a garden. For the first time this year, while I was working I was joined by the chickens, the pigeon, several cats and Rosie the dog. The soft scents of sweet box, winter honeysuckle and Viburnum x bodnantense filled the air.

In the afternoon we all went for a walk round Barnack Hills and Holes, and were very excited to see a barn owl on the edge of Southorpe village. It was perched on a gate, and then flew off silently over the grass field adjacent. As the driver I missed the best of the view, but it was wonderful for all my passengers! At Barnack we heard greater spotted-woodpeckers drumming and saw a set of very argumentative great tits. Spring is definitely in the air!

After dinner Pete and I went out to Holme Fen with our very powerful torch, to see if there were any moths about. Though I've visited this site numerous times in the day, it was the first time I'd been after dark, and It gave it a completely new and magical appearance, with just a frisson of eeriness. It was cloudy when we set out, but this partially broke to give wonderful views of the night sky. Jupiter was very bright, and with the help of my i-phone I managed to work out the constellations of Leo, Gemini and Canis Minor, all of which were new to me.

I'd decided not to take my camera and tripod, but as we went round the wood I developed some ideas for a potential night shoot, and identified some good locations. I think I might need to read up about techniques beforehand though!!