In Praise of Green -

                It's a green world out there, in all shades and fresh-looking. May is such a fine month for colour and none is more noticeable than green. Buds and new leaves are opening and unfurling at speed, each species of tree and plant at its own pace. Silver Birches are some of the earliest trees to come into leaf with Sweet Chestnut one of the latest. At ground level, ferns, mosses, grasses and flowering plants follow in their own rhythms, carpeting the winter's bare ground once again and kicking off a flush of insects, food for birds and reptiles. It has been a strange year for migratory birds, with many still not here, but once again, one, maybe two, Spotted Flycatchers have arrived to capitalise on the abundance of invertebrate life. It is so reassuring to see them back where they have nested for many years and to revel in the greens again, after this long, wet winter.

new shoots on the Redwood

fresh Beech leaves in the rain

Hard Fern unfurling