images from today's walk:frog spawn

our very own parish frog spawn, early or not I am not sure

images from today's walk:tree

this beautiful mixture of colours in the early morning sun caught my eye.

images from today's walk:squirrel

flying fox caught in the act

images from today's walk:butterbur

butterbur, the only thing growing at this time of the year on the ground, underneath some balsamic poplars.

images from today's walk:misty river

the Inny, and a little leet dating from Victorian times.

images from today's walk:campion

campion seems to be in flower all the year round now.

snowdrops 08

Snowdrops are out in abundance at my favourite snowdrop site in Trecombe woods below Carthamartha. These are the ordinary wild snowdrops which are tall and slender. Nearer the banks of the Inny there are lots of the complex variety (floccon de neige .... the translation seems tautological to me) as usual although they are not yet fully out. See last year's photo (link)

early celandines

Having survived the crises of the last two weeks we went out for a proper walk today. These battered looking flowers are some very early celandines, they must have been out for several days to look so weary. And it is reported that the ponds in Harrow Barrow are full of frog spawn since last week although we haven't seen any yet on this, the colder, side of Kit Hill.

more camelias

early flowering camelia by Stoke Climsland Church so at least some colour is returning now. It looks to me as if whoever planted the camelia in our garden took a cutting from this one. The daffodils are looking very splendid in the clean bright air when (ie very occasionally) the sun gets out.

Monks Cross

dawn over Monks Cross (and a local accident black spot) near Kit Hill. As always at dawn the rooks are doing their morning sun worshipping rituals without which, of course, the sun would stay put.

Saturday 12/01/08 before the fire storm began.

more from the spoil heap

there are several different species of moss growing even in this hostile soil (see link).

spoil heap colours

the striking colours on this spoil heap (near Old Mill) may be something to do with the toxic metals (arsenic, copper, cadmium, etc) to be found in the waste from the mines in this part of Cornwall. The striking moss may be an ornamental escapee but it is clearly flourishing on this wasteland. Barbed wire and moss sandwich is a local delicacy.

jays

we had the unusual pleasure today of watching this jay for about ten minutes as it furtively retrieved acorns hidden away earlier. They are usually very shy and difficult to follow although you can always hear them in the woods (as Simon Barnes wrote recently there is no such thing as a small emergency for a jay). So we often see flashes of their startling plumage but they never seem to pause to pose for photos.

hello 2008

a very very early camellia (for this particular specimen). Our summer rose is also about to bloom again. These are very unseasonal signs of the changing climate.