One good thing - 17th and 18th April 2020

In the fine weather of the last few days the pace of Spring growth has been really noticeable, and it's surprising how even this early in the Spring that there are pointers to late Summer and early Autumn.

This barley was sown a little over three weeks ago and is already sprouting as green shoots.

The rows sown by the seed drill are readily apparent even at this early stage.....

....and from a distance form a soft green haze across fields which will be golden in late summer.  I took a series of images over a year to show this cycle in 2017-18, it's a joy to watch the wheel of the seasons turn in this way.

In the woods the early Spring flowers are out and as yet the trees aren't in leaf but here too is a pointer to late Summer.  The stalks growing through this clump of Wood Anenomes are Wild Raspberries (Rubus idaeus) and they're just pushing out leaves.

A few years a go we planted a hedge at one side of the garden, the shrubs were chosen to give shelter and to benefit wildlife, there's a mix of Hawthorn, Hazel, Beech and Blackthorn.  This year is the first time we've had blossom on some of the Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) bushes...which should hopefully mean a crop of Sloes in autumn.  Most will be left for the birds but there may be enough to make a bottle of Sloe Gin!