First Violets

Spring seems very late coming this year with surprisingly few wildflowers in bloom - both in overall numbers as well as species - and the colours of those that are out are still dominated by whites and yellows: daisies, primroses, lesser celandine, coltsfoot, dandelion, cowslip, as well as the more 'artificial' daffodils, 

So we were thrilled this afternoon when we walked up the hill at the back of our house into an area of rough, open land which was planted two years ago with, mostly, coniferous trees but also with some deciduous, to find....

....the first of the year's blue flowers, dog violets, Viola riviniana. Finding the first of this species really is something special. I remember their first appearance in previous years, particularly when we lived on Ardnamurchan, when we found the year's first dog violets in a similar situation as today's - on the rough hillside at the back of our house in Ormsaigbeg.

They're sometimes called common dog violets. They're not 'common' at all at this time of year, and how can anyone call something 'common' which is such an important waymarker in the year's wildflower calendar?