The bluebells are beginning to flower, which means my spring delirium will soon be in full flood and it's time to catch up on how early spring played out in my Bristol haunts.
Actually, Cwtch the Collie was unimpressed with our first bluebell. The initial signs are pleasing, though. This was Badock's Wood this morning.
Of course, not all our walks have been sunny. There was an atmospheric walk around the floating harbour early one grey morning ...
... and another down Boiling Wells Lane and up onto Narroways, while I was waiting for new tyres to be fitted on my car ...
... but on the whole, March was definitely more a lamb than a lion. Here are some more of the flowers that are popping out all over.
and at Purdown I came across lots of bottles outside a den on an old dump.
We even saw a rabbit up on Purdown, which ran into a thicket of brambles when it noticed Cwtch.
And not just bluebells, obviously.
Mill Tut round barrow
The River Trym
And here it is a couple of weeks ago, when the blackthorns were out in force.
Of course, not all our walks have been sunny. There was an atmospheric walk around the floating harbour early one grey morning ...
... and another down Boiling Wells Lane and up onto Narroways, while I was waiting for new tyres to be fitted on my car ...
white violets; alexanders; alkanet and larch buds; dog's mercury; scilla; blackthorn; celandines; comfrey; speedwell; wild strawberry; fumitory; lady's smock (cuckoo flower); pussy willow; wood anemone; honesty; yellow archangel; wild garlic; greater stitchwort; violets; herb Robert; dead nettles; lungwort
Cwtch in the primroses
The Trym meets its main tributary, the Hazel Brook, downstream on the Blaise estate. I don't go down there that much, on account of all the well-heeled locals clattering past with their walking poles, pretending to be in the Alps, but I did nip down to the Henbury village end and wandered along the banks of the brook to Bradford Mill.
I also hobnobbed with two of my favourite trees in the open space above the valley:
oak
veteran sweet chestnut
On the other side of the Hazel Brook, blackthorn on Castle Hill. I love this spot in the early spring ...
... and also the area between the two hill forts on Castle Hill and Kings Weston Down, that always feels to me like a place where time is wonky and ghosts are on the move.
There was plenty of blackthorn out at Winterbourne too, when Cwtch and I went for one of our favourite walks out by St Michael's Church and Monks Pool and Bradley Brook nature reserves ...
Monks Pool nature reserve
Bradley Brook Nature Reserve
... though just the general viridification of everything is exciting enough.
The River Frome at Snuff Mills ...
... Wickham Glen ...
... and Purdown
With the earth becoming less slippery, it's easier to scramble about on the look-out for bits of pottery.
In one of the lanes leading down to Wickham Glen, some of the above sherds had been dug up by a fox ...
and at Purdown I came across lots of bottles outside a den on an old dump.
With the demise of all the scarlet elf cups, there isn't much fungi in evidence:
On the other hand, the local birds are now at their busiest and much in evidence, particularly the wrens. I managed only a few poor photos of a crow, ring-necked parakeet, and the kingfisher we often see down on the stretch of the River Frome between Eastville Park Lake and Wickham Glen.
There was also a magical afternoon when the wood was filled with jays, their wings catching the spring sunlight.
I found a rather tatty, bedraggled tawny owl feather, which is a very early outlier of the moulting season.
We even saw a rabbit up on Purdown, which ran into a thicket of brambles when it noticed Cwtch.
Each morning in spring
I conduct with a baton
my dog's Ode to Joy
