We spent a couple of hours at Anglesey Abbey yesterday, immersing ourselves in the bursts of sunshine and the signs of spring. We saw two 7-spot Ladybirds emerging from their over-wintering state. These are the first ladybirds I have seen on the move since 2019. We also noticed quite a few bees, some of them bumblebees and some of them with orange pollen sacs. I am still waiting for my first butterfly...
What follow are some fairly random photos of the flowers and others sights we saw. Some of the plants and trees are undoubtedly cultivated and cared for; but an estate garden offers scope for a huge variety of wild species, too, due to the different habitats, in this case the silver birch stand, the snowdrop walk, the extensive grasslands where we sometimes encounter Green Woodpeckers, and the river where we watched a Kingfisher on our last visit.
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| Blossom, bee and fresh leaves |
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| The joy of spring colour |
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| A scattering of species: Hellebore, Daffodil, Crocus and Snowdrop |
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| My first 2020 ladybird sighting |
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| Pollen and pollinator |
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| My second 'emerging' Ladybird of 2020 |
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| Bumblebee with pollen sac |
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| Contorted or Corkscrew Hazel (or Filbert?), with catkins |
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| Cyclamen |
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| Silver birch stand, looking stark, stately and somewhat otherwordly... |
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| Who could resist these? |
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| Small white Violets |
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| A carpet of Snowdrops |
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| A cultivated bulb |
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| Aconite: these were almost over |
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| There was a Periwinkle flower near the mill in the rusted inner band attached to a millwheel... |
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| ...and here is a close-up. |
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| A time for reflections... |
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| The mill lode |
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| Looking back |
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| Is this an early-flowering Cherry, perhaps? |
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| Tranquillity |
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| We saw several Robins; this one was looking here, there... |
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| ... and everywhere. |
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| Anglesey Abbey |
I always enjoy seeing a weathervane, particularly an unusual one like this gilded cast iron Viking longboat. I wonder what history lies behind it. If you like looking up to see weather vanes and windvanes, you might enjoy the chapter entitled 'Skylines' in Findings by Kathleen Jamie.
My thanks here to Ragged Robin for alerting me to the #LookUpForLent Twitter meme, which you will enjoy if you like gazing upwards at roof bosses, weather vanes and the like.
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| Cyclamen: a sign of new life still to come |
