Despite the cold, this hardy shrub reliably survives and flowers. Witch hazel, or hamamelis mollis, has a subtle scent that will remind you, if you are a certain age, of that hanky you were given to dab on a bruise! This species is both useful and beautiful. I’ve featured it here before, but I somehow don’t get tired of it…
And so another week bring spring a little closer; I noticed these white crocuses today – a welcome sight, despite being still in tight bud, as you can see. Buds like this are, I think, both intrinsically beautiful and symbolic, like a promise of the new growing season to come.
I’m posting this picture here today to illustrate the effort that is put into restoration work on rolling stock at heritage railways around the country, mostly by volunteers. Hundreds of man hours will go into the restoration of just one coach. The work will involve metalworkers, woodworkers, mechanics, electricians, painters, and more. This coach here will one day be serviceable and look beautiful. Remember that when you visit a heritage railway and buy tickets, you are supporting a piece of this country’s history. Thank you.
We have some colour again, at last! Today, I found these dwarf cyclamen in flower, which cheered me up a bit. Besides anything else, I love all purple flowers, and these look so wonderfully delicate, even though they are actually quite hardy, and come up year after year. Nearby, there are some narcissi or daffodil shoots, but we shall have to wait patiently for the flowers…
And so once again, it’s the time for snowdrops. I’m always glad to see them because they seem like a promise of a spring to come. They bring their special beauty, just when everywhere tends to look a bit drab. The fact that the weather has been mostly quite mild, and so they came at a time of rain, rather than snow, makes them no less welcome!
Snow, of course, always means photographic opportunities. But today, I looked a little closer at melting snow. This is one of the shots I took. Perhaps this is a whole branch (pardon the pun) of snow photography… and where does real meet surreal?
On New Year’s Day there was a so-called ‘supermoon’. This is when the moon appears larger because it is at a point where it is closest to the Earth. It is interesting that the Moon’s orbit is not, in fact, a perfect circle with the Earth at its centre! The Moon’s mean distance from us is about 384,400 kilometres. However, this can vary between around 356,400 km and 406,700 km! On this occasion it was about 363,300 km away and so was quite spectacular when the sky was clear!
I saw these water birds yesterday afternoon (Saturday) on the lake at Wollaton Park, Nottingham – one of my favourite haunts, as some of you know. I think they are quite young seagulls who are finding the winter coastal weather a bit rough, but I’m not exactly sure what kind they are. If anyone can enlighten me, I shall be delighted!
It’s Christmas Eve – and the weather is absurdly warm! No chance of delicate fragments of crystallised water falling from the sky. I just thought the colour and texture of this white pelargonium might be a little bit suitably seasonal! I love using macro photography to see the wonder of plant life, though – at any time of year!
