As I Walked Out One May Morning

Oliver woke me this morning around 4.30, I slipped into his bed to soothe him and he was soon asleep again which left me lying watching the dawn and trying to listen to the dawn chorus through the sound of Oliver snoring (he has a cold). I decided to get up.
Consequently I was up with the sun

 It was amazing on the valley  at this time, experiencing the world of activity that goes on when the people are not there. I saw three rabbits, going lippity lippity, not very fast, until they saw me and scarpered. There were clouds of cherry blossom everywhere (excellent for bees)

Clumps of cowslips

And some early bluebells:

As if to emphasize how much nicer it all was without humans, I came across evidence of their destructive presence. This is most likely where a stolen car has been set on fire:

And it was whilst gazing at the absolute beauty of the mist rising from the pond in the early morning sunshine trying to work out who has a contemplative beer and then tries to spoil the scene for everyone else by chucking the empty can in the water, that I disturbed a heron that flapped slowly away across the valley.

Trying to follow a pair of mallards who were waddling away from the pond, I came across a fox trotting purposefully aware, clearly he had business elsewhere.
Finally I climbed the hill that we sledged down in March to take a picture to show the difference that six weeks can take. Here are the trees covered in cherry blossom with the city in the distance and looming across the photo is my immense shadow. Rosie is currently working hard trying to finish illustrating our children's story about two creatures who are tormented by their own shadows. Given the size of mine I can see why they were scared. As I was alone out there, I tried a few arm movements to try to make my shadow  look more threatening. Sadly it is impossible to make a scary shadow and take pictures of it on a mobile phone.

Spring is here, Spring is here!

I woke early this morning. I'm not sure what time as I don't currently have a clock in the bedroom (maybe I unplugged it to plug in the incubator) but it looked early, the sun was just coming up and the birds were tweeting away at the dawn chorus. I came downstairs to make tea and put some washing on, normal morning stuff and then went outside to let the chickens out, which is also part of the routine.
It was so nice out there, fresh and green in the early sun that I wandered around the garden, (I managed to cut the lawn for the first time this year on Wednesday and it was looking good). I took the opportunity to pin down a loose floor in hive 3, I always forget when I am suited up and during the day the guard bees don't like a hand messing around the entrance to the hive.
Then I followed temptation and slipped onto the valley. It looked very beautiful in the early sun, clouds of blossom covering what I'm guessing to be ornamental cherry trees.Hopefully a good source of pollen and nectar for the bees. I wished I had brought a camera but this being a spur of the moment visit I didn't even have my phone. From a bend in the path I caught a fox staring at me, no doubt appalled by the candy striped dressing gown and check pyjamas. They may be a menace to my chickens but I would love to see cubs. I returned home and checked the time- ten to six.