The first wild daffodils are blooming. The leaves of wood anemones appear and on warm, sheltered places, even their first white flower buds can be seen. Blackthorn is flowering along sunny edges of the wood, its snow-white flowers appear before its leaves. The beautiful, small female flowers of hazel with their carmine stigma can be seen; its yellow, mate catkins are more conspicuous. The willows’ white catkins appear. Cornelian cherry is flowering abundantly. In the wood, under the beech trees, young leaves of bluebells pierce through last year’s brown beech leaves. In the conifers, squirrels chase one another. There is the sound of great tits, nuthatches, bramblings, finches, song thrushes, woodpeckers and buzzards. When dusk falls, the spooky ‘oohoo’ of the male tawny owl sounds through the wood. Spring is arriving, and the wood is there to be enjoyed.
