Greening

The woods are starting to green, lots of fresh green leaves appearing as seen here at the top of Betty’s Wood.

Should have been making the most of the lovely sunny morning by gardening. I stripped the bed and got all the bedding out on the line and then we decided to take a walk up through St Ives woods to make the most of the fine weather.
Bluebells in the lower woods looking lovely and some yellow jacketed folk clearing Rhododendron saplings ( I assume). 
We then walked up through Betty’s Wood, the first to be cleared some years ago due to the disease spread by the Rhodies.
The replanted and self seeded trees are now well above head height, lots of Birches but a sprinkling of other trees too. Hopefully they will eventually creat a canopy that restricts the growth of brambles etc beneath them.
At the end of the path there is a view over Bingley and the Aire  Valley which was opened up by the felling and you can see clearly across to the 5 rise locks on the Leeds Liverpool canal.  The locks have recently celebrated their 250th anniversary.
I was attracted to this shot by the lovely fresh green on the tree as well as the valley view.

We continued through the estate, past the golf club and on to the Ivy Kitchen for a coffee sitting outside.
Past Coppice Pond with the Swan magnificently chasing off the Canada geese but no sign of the Pen and her nest though it must be nearby on the island,

We passed the newly reopened fish and chip shed in the village on the way home. They smelled very good and have had good reports on the village social media so we think we will give them a try this evening. 
It’s just a little wooden building that did very well at one time when the mill opposite (now houses) was in operation. The lady who ran it died and one attempt at reopening by her daughter wasn’t very successful as you never knew when it would be open. We’re hoping it might work out better this time.

Clouded up a but now but still dry. The washing is in and ironed  and Chris is now out cutting the lawn for the first time.