Meteorological spring burst forth yesterday . We went for a walk on Friday night with a beautiful sunset marking the end of a very wet and dull winter. Saturday morning early we were rewarded with the blue clear skies of the first day of spring , a lovely feeling and walk.

A visit to Evenley woodland garden near Brackley, Northamptonshire was full of Spring colours and sounds.

This is a really gorgeous pussy willow which is large and pink. The pussy willows are all out around the local lakes which is another spring sight promising of brighter days.

Looking forward to more flowers appearing in the next few weeks.

On Saturday evening I went for the first time to an after hours event at Kew Gardens . It was the Orchids of Peru. There are 3000 species of Orchid in Peru. This was an amazing event the colours and the brilliant displays were accompanied with Peruvian music and food and scientific talks.

The talk we went to was really interesting all about pollination . This exhibition was in the Princess of Wales conservatory and could also be visited in the day. The colours were fantastic.

There were some brilliant cacti and other plants as well as Alpacas, flamingoes, a whale shark and more constructed from plant materials a wonderful display.

Last year this event was the orchid of Costa Rica . I will be going next year , I wonder where it will focus on next year, definitely an event to recommend.

A February trip to Fairlight beach in the gloomy weather was full of brilliant discoveries and finds.

This is an area known for its dinosaur track discovery and fossils. There is also areas of submerged forest toward Pett Level.

The rocks on the foreshore are dotted with rock pools and eroded into mini banded canyons. There are so many lovey shells and coloured sands here too.

We discovered blennies under rocks, sea anemones galore, periwinkles , dog whelks, cuttlefish bones and lots more.

Fossil finds, possible plant fragments, shells and sponges. There are some brilliant banded iron stones and nodules . This is a really interesting spot.

The weather improved and the tide went out with golden sands looking gorgeous.

The cliffs are very crumbly and were falling when we were there so definitely a place to avoid the base of the cliff although a couple of dog walkers were extremely close and I wouldn’t do this .

We will be back to explore more and walk further around the headland.

Walking close to the waves across the sand is a favourite stroll.

This sand is at Winchelsea Beach in Sussex close to the ancient town of Rye. We used to visit this beach a lot as children and always came home with a pocket full of shells. Some things never change .

This is the time of year when we all start thinking about our goals for the coming 12 months . Mine is simply to explore and discover more. 2023 was full of discoveries , looking forward to even more .

These coots were spotted in West London on a section of canal. They have a nest which is literally built from the rubbish tossed into the canal. It is a construction of plastic bags and plastic and paper. This film shows the coot grabbing what looks like a Mac Donald’s bag and at high speed taking it to the nest platform with the other adult and chicks. Just previous to this video the coot had already dragged two plastic bags to the nest area.

This Nest should be made from reeds sticks and leaves. It is sad to see the amount of rubbish discarded . The birds have used it successfully and built a functioning nest. You have to admire their ability.

Problems caused by the rubbish apart from floating in the canal include, the chemicals seeping into the water and the danger of birds eating the plastic or even feeding small parts to their young.

Think about litter , take it home ! Recycle ! Keep it out of the environment.

A few years ago my Dad and I stumbled upon a wonderful sea of foxgloves that covered steep slopes in the Forest of Dean. We have been hoping to see the same fantastic foxglove haze again.

Mum and Dad were out in a drive and they found them again at an area called Dancing Green.

These foxgloves were really tall and were growing through the entire woods as far as the eye could see.

On then to a favourite area of mine in the Forest called wigpool. Part of this area has had a lot of trees cut down and is open and sunny. These foxgloves were short and filled the open ground.

The week before I had been in Norfolk at Holkham beach. Along the back of the dunes there is an open woodland of pine and Holme oak. Foxgloves were making an appearance here too.

Foxgloves are a favourite flower for bees and there were plenty buzzing in and out in the sun.

I love this time of year and one big part of this love is bluebells. They deliver on all fronts , eye saturating colour in swaths and carpets, sweet scent in the air and the extra happiness of spotting a white bell ( something we always hunted for as children out with Nanny and Grandad)

This year early in the bluebell flowering I visited a wood in Cambridgeshire I hadn’t been to before. It was a gorgeous day and we had our first picnic of the year.

The wood was a series of gently undulating long ridges. In amongst the bluebells there were wood anemones, cowslips , false oxlips and Oxlips.

We came across a tiny frog beneath the bluebells.

My next venture into bluebells was much closer to home to a woodland on a small ridge , a narrow strip really at Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire literally a few minutes down the road. This woodland has areas of real wet ground and ponds. It has large patches of stitchwort which were very lovely.

This weekend I’m hoping to see the bluebells on the sides of the Malverns , I caught a glimpse in the rain last year and they looked wonderful even through the downpour. Also hoping to see the bluebells in the Forest of Dean Roman road. Went last week but they were not out. Fingers crossed they will be tomorrow .

It has been a glorious Easter weekend with wonderful sights and sounds of spring. Good Friday started with a lovely walk at wareley woods in Cambridgeshire. These were full of bluebells at the first flush of blue with a wonderful scent throughout the woods.

The woods were also full of wood anemones and plenty of primroses and cowslips, false oxlips and even I think some oxlips.

There were plenty of brimstone butterflies flitting around and we saw several bee flies.

A walk on Saturday at the Lakes at Rushden in Northants was full of butterflies in the meadows amongst the milk maids. There were lots of orange tips, several peacocks and red admirals. There were lots of large bumble bees bumbling about.

The geese and ducks were busy making plenty of noise and swans were out in large numbers. This grey lag goose was full of character .

Walking back we stopped to look I. Another lake and we’re rewarded with a grass snake swimming between clumps of reefs which was brilliant.

Looking forward to more days out and about exploring in Spring .

We recently visited London and had a very long walk along the bank of the Thames. There is so much to see everywhere you look and it is surprising how many steps you walk without realising.

While walking past the Tower of London we noticed it was possible to walk down onto the beach . This was really interesting and full of finds.

The beach had areas of large numbers of shells, lots of oysters and periwinkles.

There are some interesting industrial and historical objects on the beach . I am really interested In mudlarking. The view from this beach was looking straight at the Shard and HMS Belfast.

There were some rather lovely shells on this beach in the very centre of the city. We will be exploring these beaches again.