Oh to be in England.....
Apr 10, 2011 9:50:02 GMT
Post by patricklondon on Apr 10, 2011 9:50:02 GMT
....now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!
We've been having a spell of unusually settled warm and sunny weather, and spring is beginning to run ahead of itself.
Around my way, the garden flowers seem to be more profuse and intense than ever:
and round on Millwall Dock, the coots and swans are making their nests amid - and from - the accumulated litter:
and our resident crested grebes (a species once almost wiped out in the UK, because of the Edwardian fashion for putting them on ladies' hats) have been joined by what look like last years' offspring:
On the Mudchute (so called because that's where they dumped what they dug out to make the Dock), blackthorn promise a good harvest of sloes, for those that like to make sloe gin:
and the sheep on the city farm are out to graze, with the noise from the sheds suggesting there may soon be lambs out there with them:
It's been perfect weather for a stroll through Greenwich Park, and past the Royal Observatory:
The Park would once have been the enclosed hunting ground for the Palace that used to stand here. One corner was further fenced off in Victorian times to make the classic municipal flower garden:
Some camellias are still in their glory
and the magnolias are being rapidly followed by the first azaleas:
Time to pause, on the way home, for one last look across the river to the ensemble of the old Naval College, Observatory and Park:
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!
We've been having a spell of unusually settled warm and sunny weather, and spring is beginning to run ahead of itself.
Around my way, the garden flowers seem to be more profuse and intense than ever:
and round on Millwall Dock, the coots and swans are making their nests amid - and from - the accumulated litter:
and our resident crested grebes (a species once almost wiped out in the UK, because of the Edwardian fashion for putting them on ladies' hats) have been joined by what look like last years' offspring:
On the Mudchute (so called because that's where they dumped what they dug out to make the Dock), blackthorn promise a good harvest of sloes, for those that like to make sloe gin:
and the sheep on the city farm are out to graze, with the noise from the sheds suggesting there may soon be lambs out there with them:
It's been perfect weather for a stroll through Greenwich Park, and past the Royal Observatory:
The Park would once have been the enclosed hunting ground for the Palace that used to stand here. One corner was further fenced off in Victorian times to make the classic municipal flower garden:
Some camellias are still in their glory
and the magnolias are being rapidly followed by the first azaleas:
Time to pause, on the way home, for one last look across the river to the ensemble of the old Naval College, Observatory and Park:
Especially strolling through the Isabella Plantation to see the rhododendrons and azaleas!