Snowdrop Season

After the rains of last Sunday we had a quite a few relatively bright days in the week. Wednesday, in particular, was clear and sunny and when we arrived home from work I dragged TBH out for a quick stroll. It being late, the best of the sunshine was gone, but it was still good to be out. I had no doubt in my mind about where we should go – to Haweswater where I knew that the snowdrops would be flowering in the woods.

There TBH had to wait patiently whilst I observed the annual ritual of grovelling in the leaf litter trying to take photos from underneath the low-growing plants to capture the intricate and hidden details of the apparently plain and simple white blooms.

I enjoy visiting this particular corner where the snowdrops thrive as an experience in its own right, but I also relish this as the first term in a periodic sequence: the snowdrops presage many other visits to Gait Barrows over the course of the year to find toothwort, bird’s-eye primrose, yellow flags, lily-of-the-valley, lady’s slipper, grass of Parnassus….

Haweswater itself is secretive and it’s difficult to get a clear view or to take decent photos so I was pleased to get these reflected pines despite the lack of colour.

This tree stump…

….often has oyster mushrooms growing on it. These are less of a seasonal marker – a search of previous posts throws up references to oyster mushrooms in both June and December (twice), all of them seen on a log on the cliff-path above Woodwell, although I know that I’ve also seen them many times here before.

The trees by Moss Lane were full of jackdaws.

And in a field beside the road, the first lambs we’ve noticed this year.

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