Walking in Coombe Wood - sunshine and rain.

I took a big umbrella but left it in the car. I was very glad that I had a little one in my bag - I certainly needed it towards the end of my walk.

The gardener has started digging out the tulips ready for the Summer planting.

The gardener was in the pond tidying around the edge. 

 These white flowers are only about the size of my little finger nail.

 Hairy moss with spiders web

Some of the alliums are only just coming out.

 The wild flower beds are coming along nicely - most of these will be poppies.

White allium  or perhaps I should say white allium with ants - I didn't see the ants till I looked at the photo on the computer screen.  

I thought I understood what was happening with this tree, I thought these were baby cones - turns out they're probably flowers and not baby cones at all.

This morning I suddenly noticed a young cone further up the tree. How did that happen? I've been watching carefully each time I've been there, hoping to see how they form and it's done it almost in front of my nose . . . and I missed it. 

I wonder why I can look really closely at bees, without any trouble at all, as long as I'm taking photos but if a bee comes near me when I don't have the camera in my hand I panic and run!

By this time the temperature dropped and the sky became overcast. The birds began to sing their "It's going to rain" song. (I'm sure they change their song before it rains.)

 I carried on walking and taking photos. 

Small almost square white flowers. 

 I think the pink, white and cream look gorgeous together.

Red heart shaped droplets of flowers dangling like Christmas decorations. 

 Yellow Iris

 Purple and yellow iris

I couldn't resist another photo of the alliums against the pink tulips. The tulips are almost finished now and will soon be gone.

A carpet of white flowers almost covers all the leaves on this plant.

More alliums.

 Close up with raindrops on them. 

The end of the tulips

Thank you very much for joining me. 

Unexpected walk in Coombe Wood.

I was supposed to be doing something else today but it didn't happen - so I grabbed the opportunity of a walk in Coombe Wood.

There are still loads of whispy seeds to come off the bullrushes. They wafted in the breeze catching the sunlight.

Most of the tulip petals have fallen off although some remain in the flower beds nearer to the Cafe. 

The irises are coming out now

The tiny pink lilac is past its best but the scent is still delicious . . . 

. . . as is the scent of the yellow azaleas. More of their flowers are falling down their styles (have I got the word right this time I wonder?) and dangling there - reminding me of ballerina-like fuschias. 

The prairie bed is filling out - not much sign of the grasses yet but plenty of flowers. 

These are very small flowers and are fascinating me as I wonder what they will do next. They look like little party blowers as they stretch out their petals!

There are some other green bobbly structures forming, I'm finding it intriguing.

The inside of a freshly opened pink poppy. The middle looks a bit like a little illuminated cauliflower.

The palm seems to have grown some very unusual flowers very quickly - surely I would have noticed these if they were there before?

Great big clusters of tightly closed yellow buds.

There are still some lily of the valley - one of my top favourite flowers - I love those delicate bells and their gorgeous scent. 

The pathways are still flanked with fabulous showy rhododendrons and azaleas.

  Looking inside a pink rhododendron

Salmon colour - looking good. 

  I can't resist white blossom against blue sky. 

Hydrangea bud. I didn't notice the spiders web and the green spider till I put the photos on the computer (slightly above and to the left of the bud.)

Light shining through red/orange leaves - spiders web glinting against tree trunk to the right.

Looking closer at an iris. 

 
I'm amazed at how many different kinds of bees there are - I like this bee's stripy pattern.

More irises. 

 

Bees on allium. 

A butterfly caught my attention and I spent quite a while watching it flit from flower to flower.

 Then  back to watching bees again. 

The Jerusalem sage flowers are emerging - they're the ones with star shaped pods - you can see the star shapes in the buds too.

Everything looks lovely and green, with tiny splashes of colour here and there. 

These flowers are really tiny - I wouldn't have noticed them if I hadn't stopped to look at the daisies nearby. 

Thank you very much for joining me.