No Bluebells yet, but it IS early.

There seem to be a lot of stories in the papers that due to the cold weather Bluebells will be late this year. It may be so, but I think that the early Easter has brought forward some people's expectations. I took photos of them on Apr 17th last year in Captain's Wood and then there were only a few out.

The Wood looked pretty bare today, coppice is never very attractive when it is well grown and bare, with little undercover.

Unlike other things in the country, the green shoots of the Bluebells are well on, but there is no sign of any flower buds pushing through yet.

In some of the well lit areas patches of Wood Anemones were prolific, forming a carpet on the wood floor.

This attractive little flower was just about the only one that I found in bloom inside the wood.

On the bank along side the road there were quite of lot of Lesser Celandine plants in flower, at least that's what I think they are, my botany being pretty bad.

The intriguingly named Lords and Ladies, or Cuckoo Pint already has it's clumps of leaves, some plants with plain and some spotted, as yet there is no sign of the fruits.

The birds were a bit disappointing, with Blue, Great and Coal Tits all noisily calling and a pair of Treecreepers more quietly going about their business. I heard both Song and Mistle Thrush and one Great Spotted Woodpecker calling. But there were no surprises and no summer visitors.