Greens

Unless buried under snow, the winter woods around here are always green from the mosses that cover not only every piece of dead and fallen wood but also the living, sometimes extending almost to the canopy of quite tall trees. However, today a new and much brighter green, the green of newly-growing grass, was very evident.

For some, like this roe deer, any new green growth of grass, tree or shrub is too late. In the last few months we have only seen two living deer, a mother with last summer's young, and we've seen two dead, while through the previous winter we were seeing them regularly. It's been a hard winter.

As the season changes so the fungi have disappeared, with the exception of the birch polyphores which are visible year-round, so we were quite surprised to see this one growing in leaf mould at the side of the path. I've tried to identify it - as usual, without success.

However, here is a real sign of spring, the first grey wagtail of the year which Mrs MW spotted on Wednesday in the burn in Golspie glen. While some British grey wagtails stay local throughout the winter, the ones in northern areas such as this tend to migrate to lowland areas further south. Welcome back!