Two walks - Monday and Thursday (Coombe Wood)

WALK 1. Monday 21st - with a friend

Bulrushes (after a pillow fight?)

The pond was thick with algae. The gardener is waiting for the council to get a part to mend the pump that makes the waterfall work. The waterfall aerates the pond which helps stop the formation of algae

Bees were out collecting pollen

 Clusters of red bobbly buds against tiny deeply ridged leaves

The wonderful structure of the Korean pine cone fascinates me

Are these flowers? Will they become cones? 

On a nearby pine of a different kind, little cones form on the ends of the branches

Laurel flowers - fluffy tendrils

A glimpse of the gardener loading up a barrow full of manure

Hydrangea flower skeletons

As we came around the corner we saw the gardener tipping manure out of the wheelbarrow. We walked up the lawn and back down again along the other side - there was quite a strong farm yard aroma.

The gardener was using a short cut walkway across the flower bed through an arch in the hedge to refill the wheelbarrow

WALK 2. (24th)

Still waiting for the part for the pump?

The new leaves on the gunera are only small at the moment but they're already rough and spiky

I hadn't gone far when I felt some rain drops. Little splashes of colour brightened up the walk.

I am having an irritating problem with my camera - the lens covers sometimes fail to open fully - creating dark patches at the edge of the photo as in the one below.

Some of the primroses were yellower than usual. Quite a few were a bit ragged round the edges

Perhaps this little green creature was the culprit

Arching stems with deep orange buds now lightening in colour and beginning to open

Magnolia

These were the bobbly buds from Monday - now blue

Mistletoe in the Hawthorn Tree

Heather 

Two large skeleton leaves

The things (technical term) on the ends of the branches of the Korean pine look as if they've been dusted with flour

And some of the bobbles along the stems which I wondered about on my previous visit (are they flowers/baby cones?) have turned red

As I walked along the path the sun shone for just long enough to shine through the wings of a jay as it swooped down and flew ahead of me and up into a tree.WOW - such a lovely flash of colour - but far too quick for me to catch a photo of it in flight.

Curls of peeling birch bark

Here a pods on the ground under the tree which will have large leaves on it. This one has been cracked open - inside is a lot of fluffy seeds and a hard centre. I have been searching online and I think it's a Paulownia tomentosa - if it is then some interesting flowers will be forming on the tree soon

Rhododendron stamens are such an amazing shape

 The rain made the witch hazel scent stronger

Pattern on the top of a gate post

New growth - all sorts of colours and shapes

 Purple hellebore seed pods 

The bank of daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses in front of the little hut

A trio of crocuses

The papery leftovers of empty honesty seed pods - many just a stem and an empty loop

Orange flowers 

A riot of colour

Dark leaves wet and shiny with rain

Back to the bulrushes

If I hadn't paused for another look at the bulrushes I don't think I would have spotted this delightful little flower by the edge of the pond

Each individual open flower looked as if it had a pearl sitting in the middle

Thank you very much for joining me