Walk in the Park

This morning saw Malcolm and I being joined by Mum 'P' for a short stroll on Locko Park.

The parkland belongs to the privately owned Locko Park House and Estate and dates back at least the mid 1500's. The house itself dates mostly from about 1725 and was built on the site of an old hospital of the Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem (an institution set up for the care of lepers), which was on, or near the site as far back as the early 1200's.

According to Wikipedia, the house is currently occupied by Lucy and David Palmer (of Huntley and Palmer biscuits fame).

In the middle of this lake, a small island caught the eye as a large group of brightly coloured daffodils made a handsome show.

On a sunny morning such as this, the views are rather good across the water.

Malcolm and his mum were certainly enjoying the sun...

Blossom Time

Once again, the sun shone on us this morning as we walked through the woodland atop Shipley Hill. It's cherry blossom time again and the recent good weather has certainly brought the blossom out in great numbers.

Seen against the blue sky, the pink of the blossom was rather beautiful.

The Shipley Hill cherry trees are always good value at this time year.

Close by and the Maple Trees are also beginning to bloom but in their case, the flowers are, at first glance, not so colourful.

As usual, a closer look reveals the true beauty of these shiny, green flowers as they appear in large groups at the ends of the branches.

There will be more blossoms to come no doubt over the next few days.

Violet?

Things took a turn for the worse over the weekend, so not much was had by way of walking. However, with a new week, we have the prospects of things warming up again, so after today's enforced lethargy (having to wait in for a parcel delivery is never much fun), I thought I'd post a few pics from last week.
On our way to Straw's Bridge, we walked past a large gathering of Violets.

Judging by the colour, they seem to be misnamed, but these Sweet Violets (Viola odorata) can be either 'violet' or white in colour.

Violets were mentioned frequently by Homer and Virgil. They were used by the Athenians 'to moderate anger,' to procure sleep and 'to comfort and strengthen the heart.'

The Romans also made a wine from the flowers of the Sweet Violet and throughout history, people have made syrups and perfumes from them. The blue flowered varieties, readily impart their colour to any liquids used in the making of scents.  All very useful stuff!

Spring Flowers

Two more signs of spring caught our eye this morning.  As we walked through John Wood at the far end of Mapperley Reservoir, a single patch of Primroses were enjoying the sunshine.

Always a spring favourite, these didn't disappoint.

Close by, a small group of Narcissi were flowering bravely by the path.

Not a wild species this, but no less welcome a sight.

Closer to home and another clump of Narcissi were found growing beside the footpath. A different variety and a different colour, they looked lovely against the blue sky.

Spring Lambs

It was a joy to see some delightful little spring lambs this morning.
In one of the fields used by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust to graze a small flock of Jacob sheep, several of the ewes had lambs gambolling around them.

Most were black, but a few had the brown and white patterning of their mothers. One little black lamb was busy nibbling the grass nearby.

Suddenly, looking up, he found that his mother had walked off and left him alone in the middle of the field.

No matter, a quick call from mum and off he went to catch up with the rest of the family. Safe again with mum.

Spring has sprung for sure.

Sunshine

Once more, we set out for a walk in glorious sunshine this morning. Heading out along the Nutbrook Trail, the Coltsfoot flowers were opening their blooms and turning them towards the sun.

These little plants, normally start to show some colour around the middle of March, but this year, they are a few weeks late.

In the wooded areas, Dog's Mercury is also flowering, although their flowers are somewhat less 'showy' than the Coltsfoot. But, the bright green of the new foliage makes up for the lack of floral colour.

Each individual flower is almost triangular in shape and hard. They always remind me of  small grains of bulgur wheat.

Along Slack Lane, the Gorse flowers were showing more colour as we headed for home.

Wind in the Willows

It's fair to say that things have calmed down a lot over the last few days. Following what seemed to be a prolonged period of high winds and too much rain, we got out and about this morning for a shortish walk to Straw's Bridge, taking in Pewit Carr. At Straw's Bridge, I was struck by the appearance of some wonderful Willow flowers.

Even though it was dull and very overcast, the yellow of the stamens on these flowers seemed to glow in the gloom.

This was the only Willow we saw in flower. Things are still lagging a bit behind this year.

Further signs of Spring were seen close to 'Swan Lake'. As we were heading away from the lake towards Pewit Carr, a couple of Cowslip plants caught our eye.

In other parts, where we know they grow every year, they were still keeping very tightly budded. But here, they seemed to be fed up with waiting and were flowering despite the weather.

Perhaps Spring has sprung after all..!