Remember the snow?
Now the hills are waking up, shaking off wintry lethargy with a sprinkle of early flowers. Wild primrose is amongst the first, brightening road verges and old meadows.
But mostly, this is the moment of the violet. We have a purple carpet this year, tiny exquisite flowers marking nearly every patch of undamaged grass.
‘Undamaged’ being the operative word, of course. Once, most of the UK had traditional meadows that supported abundant native plants and animals. Nearly all of them have been destroyed by modern agriculture, and while the laws have improved over time, things could still be better.
Patches of old grassland also occur on private land – in particularly old mature gardens. If you have a mossy lawn, please be kind to it. It’s more interesting than a flat, bland bed of rye grass and supports far, far more life, including rare fungi. Avoiding fertilisers and unnecessary tilling is key.
Back on the hills, animals are also waking up. Roman snails are Britain’s largest species and are strictly protected. This one might have appreciated a little rain to wash its shell.
It won’t have long to wait. Sunshine and showers are April’s usual game.
A Walk with Wildlife 
Beautiful photos and how lovely to see these signs of spring.
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Looks like it’s going to be a nice spring this year 🙂
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‘Lawn jewels’ – a term used by a fellow blogger for flowers allowed to grow wild in lawns. Happily, I have lots of those! 😉
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Lawn jewels – oh, I like that! 🙂 Your garden is lovely!
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Thank you!
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So very beautiful post, Just what I am longing for, all small flowers. At the moment living on a buildingsite. We are getting new neighbours, only stone here. The post gave me a bit of spring.
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Thank you Eva. I hope you are able to see some small flowers soon. There has been a lot of building work in my village lately and I know it is difficult to see stone and broken ground so much.
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Adele, wonderful post! Beautiful Spring flowers! We finally are in the midst of Spring also! My favourite season with all it’s renewal of life! I think this is the first year I’ve ever shovelled snow and cut the grass in the same month! It was March alright. We are bringing in April with a balmy 20 degrees! Very nice!
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Twenty degrees! Wow. We’re still getting the odd bit of snow here but spring is clinging on regardless.
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Spring has finally come to Vancouver, but it still looks kind of shy, nothing like what you have in UK!!!
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It keeps teasing us. There was more snow last week! But the bluebells are opening in the woods and I heard the sparrowhawk calling this morning, so it is probably thinking about nesting season. I am ready for the warm time of year now. I hope it comes to Vancouver too!
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