Signposts to Summer

The dandelions have been out for some days, still in small enough numbers to be welcomed as a signpost towards summer rather than a nuisance. They're one of many of the earliest spring flowers which are yellow or white - snowdrops, lesser celandine, primrose - but today we saw the first of the next colour....

....the purples.

We walked several miles today but only found one small patch where several of these, the first violets, were growing. It was so good to see these beautiful, delicate flowers, yet there didn't seem to be anything particularly special about where they grew.

Another sign of coming spring was this birds egg, quite a large one, possibly a wood pigeon.

I probably write a blog like this every year, and I also probably feature exactly the same flowers and make the same comments, yet it seems an increasingly important rite of passage through the year's seasons, perhaps because, at my age, there are fewer and fewer to look forward to.