Blossom covered lanes, blackthorn and wild cherry; catkins, green and russet brown;white wood anemones and purple violets; celandine – carpets of sunshine. A palette of Spring colours.
During this “stay at home” time, rediscovering our village lanes and footpaths is not only good exercise and a mindful activity, it is helping me to find hidden gems for painting.
Walking through the small copse where the dark green leaves of wild garlic not yet in flower cover the ground and the woodpeckers call, I reach the river Stour. It moves slowly reflecting cream coloured reeds and bare branched trees. The Blackmore Vale stretches out before me towards the Dorset gap. The landscape is like a Constable painting with sheep safely grazing.
A steep lane leads to an old derelict mill where the river tumbles and froths over a weir and flows under the footbridge to calmer waters on the other side. We sometimes spot a kingfisher here, but it is a rare sighting. However with more time to spend “standing and staring” who knows, we may get lucky.
No driving, no travelling, just walking, listening and seeing.
Everything is greening up but the cold north wind still blows strong and our garden butterflies don’t know whether to venture out or hunker down. While the Blackthorn is in flower the chilly weather may continue but with lighter evenings and mornings the birds simply carry on as usual, pairing up, nest building, singing.
Spring just keeps going on!