The Quickening

Lords and Ladies

Do you ever look at the land around you and imagine how it used to look thousands of years ago?

Filter out all the modern clutterings and focus on the timeless parts - the greenery under foot and the wild edges of lanes, the robin flitting from side to side ahead, and the weak winter sun bringing at least a little relief from the chilly wind. Open your other senses to it: birdsong in the hedges, woodsmoke in the air.

As the soil stirs with the first shoots, this is the season of the quickening - the time when slowly, slowly and then suddenly

Celandine

with a burst of life, everything begins to turn green again. It's the time of year when Mother Nature wakes things up and the plants and trees start showing signs of life. There are welcome signs of spring in the bluebell woods.

This is the start of my favourite time of year, when everything is waking up and the quickening is underway 🙂 Every morning when we go to the woods we're greeted by bird song, and hear the skylarks dancing about out of view. You stand there

Bluebells emerging

trying to see them, then catch a glimpse high in the air, singing away. Buzzards circling together screeching their call across the canopy, it's timeless 🙂

Without fail, the ravens chatter as they fly overhead as if they're broadcasting the morning's news to anything that'll listen. Bit by bit the green returns to the land, each plant bursting through the soil, having its moment after the cold of winter.

Snowdrops

I wish everyone could view the world like this in the morning. What does this time of year look like in your part of the world?

Pics above (clockwise from top left): 1) Bluebell leaves emerging, 2) Winter sun, 3) Hazel catkins, 4) Landcress leaves, 5) Lords and Ladies leaves unfurling, 6) Bluebell leaves