Waking up for spring

At last!  The warmer days have brought new life to the woodland and soon the floor will be covered in bluebells.  The fresh smell is as intoxicating as the view, but all I can show is the latter!

Many of the deciduous trees are still in hard bud but the horse chestnuts already have hands of soft green leaves.  They seem to be earlier than usual and I am wondering if this is their answer to the larvae of the leaf miner moth which have reduced these beautiful trees to rust by August.  Maybe if they open early, sufficient sunlight will be collected to bolster these, one of my favourite trees, through to the next season.

Primroses nest below Lady's Smock, another woodland flower who's delicate colours paint the woodland before dark green summer stretches over the canopy.

The early spotted orchid

Of course, spring also means the wild life are thinking of mating.  The birds in the woodland all shout out their prowess and this cheeky pheasant came and pecked at our window the other day.

Brave little thing.  We have two springer spaniels in the house and they were chomping at the bit watching him walk up.  I let them out in the end; knowing the pheasant would be fine.  I think it is in the dogs' breeding to chase birds rather than catch them; the idea being to send birds skyward for a shoot.