Still cold but signs of spring continue to appear. On some of the seedling hawthorns there are buds breaking with bright green leaves. There is a scatter of recently germinated seedlings on patches of bare earth. Birds, particularly blackbirds, peck over the fallen leaves and today had managed to bury the eastern dandelion completely. The eastern dandelion is having to compete with a young lords-and-ladies (Arum maculatum) which is, not surprisingly, larger than it was last year. The birch tree continues to drip sap creating small splash sounds easily heard in these quiet days of Covid lockdown (though the children have gone back to school today, putting more traffic on the roads.
Butterfly Rock still continues to deliver interest. The picture above shows that grass and sorrel is surviving among the moss on top of the rock while the pale green patch close to the centre is a lichen, possibly a Bacidia but I shall have to let it develop a bit.
