The world was very quiet and still; during the night the north wind had rested and its breath had spread across the grass leaving each fragile stem festooned with diadems. A series of whistles announced the arrival of the first visitors – attired with copes of gold, velvet black waistcoats and carnival masks they alighted and looked for the other guests. The resident pair of oystercatchers looked on with disdain at these exotic migrants while the pipits chattered with nervous excitement. Needing no encouragement to perform the skylarks rose in serenade while the lapwings tumbled and swooped to provide a cabaret of welcome.
During quiet interludes the perfume of jonquils drifts across the garden to entice the bumblebees with the promise of nectar. There is no buzz of bees on these cold afternoons, they sleep on and dream of the arrival of May or even June when the warmth of the sun does not flatter to deceive.
Alas it is just a myth that Spring has arrived when you can put your foot on seven daisies.
We’ve had snow flurries too and a chilly blast which has finished most of the daffodils. Here’s to Spring coming soon. Love the cowslips.
I’m very impressed by the cowslips too. This week the cold winds have shrivelled so much of the new growth and I was so optimistic a while a go that this spring would be an improvement on last year! Oh well perhaps next month!
It is so thrilling to read about your gardening so far away yet in so similar circumstances – I’m gardening on an island in the SW of Finland. The wind is constant, but not at all in the same scale you’re struggling with! Thank heavens for the tough primroses.
It is lovely to hear from another island gardener – I must pay a virtual visit to your garden and see what you are growing. Fortunately the primroses appear to be virtually indestructible.
Your top photograph is beautiful, I could look at that view for a very long time. Hoping this Arctic chill will just move on now, roll on better weather!
Another lovely post – Your first image is spectacularly beautiful, but sympathies with your late spring…it makes our cold one here seem benign by comparison,
Best wishes
Julian
Still wearing my full thermal layers at the end of April! Shivery but beautiful. Unfortunately the northerly winds bring us sunshine which is better than westerly gales and wind. So more natural selection in the garden and anything tender joins the “has been” list.
So are we C, – still wearing the thermals that is…and the Met Office tell us that it really has been a fairly normal April….maybe I’m getting too old…
BW
Julian
Statistics always hide a multitude of lies!
When I saw the weather map yesterday I thought of you Chris, and then this morning there was this lovely post waiting to be read… a very enjoyable read too. It has been unseasonably cold here, despite several really warm days at the beginning of the month. But I suspect it is a tad cooler in your part of the world right now. Hope it warms up for you and your bees soon!
Definitely a cold spring, but fortunately a dry one. I’d rather the bees slept on for a while, but for all of us I do hope that we get some warmer weather soon.
Ist May night-time temperatures are supposed to leap up here by about 6 degrees. Hope it’s the same for you. It looks extremely picturesque though.
I’m in the Cairngorms and it really is cold! It’s so beautiful here l don’t mind.
Your photo at the top of this post is wonderful. You seem to have had more frost than we have, just 25 miles – at the south end of South Uist! Normally winds from the north – especially at this time of year – are cold but very DRY ; but in recent days the wind has been cold and WET, and that is what has done some damage. And it’s driven us back indoors, and the heating back on!
I was surprised at the amount of snow at sea level. The hills of the Uists and Harris were white-topped for the previous couple of days, but normally we remain in the frost-free zone! I’ve just returned from the mainland and was surprised to find that it is still cold here! Another late spring?
I always enjoy your posts, and how resilient you are coping with winds and variable cold winters. Spring and new budding plants must be an absolute joy.
Thank you. The new growth was lovely when it emerged but has now been shrivelled by the cold winds, but I’m reasonably optimistic that thinks will perk up again when the warmer weather eventually arrives.
Wonderful enchanting descriptions.Wish I could see them all for myself.
Thank you Liz.
As always you add a touch of artistry to your posts with your delightful way with words – thank you. I guess the pair of you are not ski-ing in the Cairngorms…? 😉
Just a short break to exercise mind and body (definitely no skiing) before the start of summer – well one has to be optimistic!